Cheetah
Taxonomy
The Cheetah is an extremely impressive animal. Holding the record for fastest animal on earth it can travel from 0-60 in just 2 strides. The Cheetah can’t hold this pace for very long as its body is built for quick bursts of speed. This isn’t a problem for the Cheetah as it has a 50% success rate for catching its prey. Although it takes a lot out of the Cheetah, its speed is what sets it apart.
The Cheetah is endangered; sadly they are being killed by several different factors. The biggest problem is that the cubs rarely reach adulthood. This is because the mothers raise the cubs alone, the males leave after mating. Also, the Cheetah isn’t capable of effectively fighting off the lions and hyenas. The Cheetah is excellent at running away but not as good at fighting other Apex predators. Other factors causing the extinction are the fact that their lands are shrinking. Humanity has expanded and thus limited their hunting grounds. This forces the Cheetah into small spreads of land in fact trapping them. This leaves a small selection for breeding. Forcing inbreeding, the Cheetah is often born with deformities as well as male Cheetahs having a very low sperm count making it even harder to breed.
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