Monday, June 23, 2008

Amazing Cheetah Facts

It’s sleek, wild, beautiful and extremely fast.  No it is not the new sports car, but the cheetah.  Cheetahs are not only some of the most beautiful cats in the world; they have the reputation for being the fastest land animals on earth.  One well known cheetah fact is that they can sprint at about 70 miles per hour and they reach these incredible speeds in just a few seconds flat.


Cheetah facts will thrill you, because these cats are truly amazing.  Unfortunately, their numbers have been in decline for decades leaving only a few thousand still roaming the wild.  While you can see cheetahs in most large zoos, little is known about the cheetah in its natural habitat.


The Smithsonian Magazine has an excellent article regarding cheetah facts.  Whether you are a cat lover or speed freak, you will enjoy learning many cheetah facts that are interesting and mostly unknown.  Here’s a cheetah fact you probably didn’t know.  The cheetah has a wonderful coat that is imitated by countless fashion designers, however one will be interested to know that the cheetah’s coat is not soft and luxurious, but quite prickly and coarse.


There are plenty of other cheetah facts that will amaze and inspire and you can find them at Smithsonian Magazine.  You can learn more about this incredible cat at the following link:  http://www.smithsonianmag.com


Daredevil, Black Holes, Cheetah facts, Glacier National Park

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Super Cheetah Facts

Cheetahs are considered to be the fastest land animal in the world reaching speeds of up to 70 miles per hour. Just like an exotic sports car, they are fast, beautiful and dangerous. Cheetahs have always piqued man’s curiosity and today after careful research and study, more is known about these beautiful cats than ever before. For those interested in cheetah facts, Smithsonian Magazine offers one of the best articles on the subject.


While cheetahs are incredibly beautiful and well known for their incredible attributes, they are quite rare and on the verge of extinction. However, many animal conservationists have targeted the cheetah to ensure that their beauty survives for the years to come. If you are interested in cheetah facts, you can learn quite a lot from Smithsonian’s magazine article: Rare Breed.


Smithsonian offers incredible insight and beautiful photos of this incredible creature. For cat lovers of all ages, the mystery of the cheetah and the incredible lifestyle that this cat leads is finally revealed. Two interesting cheetah facts to whet your appetite is this cat’s amazing coat. You might think this cat’s spotted fur is extremely smooth and luxurious; however it is quite rough and prickly. Another interesting fact is that unlike other big cats, females are quite solitary, unlike their male counterparts which live in groups of siblings.


There is so much more interesting cheetah facts to learn about. For those interested in cheetah facts, visit the Smithsonian magazine today for more about this one of a kind cat. http://www.smithsonianmag.com

Wrigley Field, cheetah facts, Cleopatra

Cheetah Facts: Nature's Fastest Hunters

Slim, graceful, and powerful, cheetahs can’t help but capture our imaginations. Some cheetah facts are well known, such their famed ability to run up to 70 miles an hour (a speed they can reach in just four seconds). Or their gorgeous spotted coat and graceful movements. These are all things we’ve all seen and marveled over in wildlife documentaries. But there are some more interesting facts about this big cat that may surprise you.


Let’s start with the cheetah’s beautiful spotted coat. You might imagine that it would feel as soft and silky as a housecat’s. But in reality, the cheetah’s coat is rough and prickly… not pleasant to the touch at all. And while not nice on your fingertips, this is a good thing for the cheetah-- it saves the big cat from being hunted for its fur. Another of the more surprising cheetah facts is the cheetah’s lifestyle. If you’ve seen documentaries about lions, you might imagine that cheetahs live much the same way-- the females group together, live together, and hunt together. Sound about right?


In reality, the cheetah’s lifestyle works in exactly the opposite way. Female cheetahs are incredibly solitary creatures. They live alone and generally die alone, spending their lives ranging across massive distances. Female cheetahs only looking for companionship to mate and have cubs. One of the most interesting cheetah facts is how the males live-- unlike females, male cheetahs live in groups of siblings, and they hunt together and spend their lives together.


A Species in Danger

Like many of the world’s big cats, the cheetah is an endangered species. About 100 years ago, there were 100,000 or so cheetahs on the planet; as of the 1970’s there were about 30,000. The most disturbing of cheetah facts? The number of them that remain today. Today, the world’s population of cheetahs is a tiny 12,500-- less than half of their number in 1970.


Why are cheetahs so endangered? Here’s one of the cheetah facts you probably already know: the most significant contributor to the reduction in their numbers is man. But another part of the reason why it’s so difficult to increase the cheetah population lies with the cheetah itself-- cheetahs are not very fertile, and don’t breed well in captivity. In the past, birth rates were practically zero, and the few cubs that resulted from breeding programs tended to die. Wildlife biologists are just learning how to breed them with any sort of success.


Despite conservationists’ efforts, the world’s population of cheetahs is steadily diminishing. To learn more cheetah facts and educate yourself about protecting these beautiful big cats, visit the Smithsonian Magazine website at the following link: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/