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Did You Know that a cheetah has to be taught how to hunt by its parent?

Did you know that cheetahs are specialized for speed? In fact, cheetahs are the fastest four-legged animals in the world. As I indicated earlier, they've been clocked at almost 60 mph. The thing is, they're only designed for sudden bursts of speed. They just can't sustain those high speeds for a long time. So, they have to stalk very, very close to an antelope, for example, then take off - attain their highest speed in a matter of seconds - and nab the antelope before the antelope also gets up to speed.

That's one of the most interesting things about nature, you see. The brainpower and physical skills of predators and their prey are generally very similar. Nature gives the antelope its chance to escape because the cheetah has to work its way in very close to the antelope in order to gain an advantage. If the cheetah botches the stalking job - doesn't get close enough - the antelope gets away unscathed. It too is a fast runner - not as fast as a cheetah - but it can sure run fast for a longer duration of time.

So nature sees to it that the prey that the predator ends up with is probably weak, sick, stupid - or a combination of all three. In other words, nature maintains a balance. The predator/prey relationship always affects the balance of a species. Only the most skilled, the most intelligent and the strongest are left to breed so the species will survive.

Force 10 speeds but...

...once the cheetah gets up to its prey, not having the strength of a leopard, a lion or a tiger, it has to swipe at the antelope's legs - knock them out from under it - so it tumbles to the ground. Then the cheetah can fasten onto the antelope's neck with its teeth and hold, and hold, and hold on for a long time (without moving) until the antelope dies, or goes into shock.

Here's another thing about cheetahs. They don't have the strength to defend themselves against larger predators. More often than not, they'll make a kill and a hyena or a lion will happen by and good-bye meal. (Many animals eat well because a cheetah hunts so well.) But that's okay... Cheetahs are so highly skilled, they'll chase and pull down another meal fairly quickly.

Did you know that DNA testing of cheetahs seems to indicate that most of the world's cheetahs originated from a single female that lived millions of years ago? A female that probably survived one of the great catastrophies - a meteorite explosion, or some other cataclysmic event. DNA testing shows that cheetahs are so genetically alike, they're almost like clones - their genetic makeup so similar that skin can be grafted from one cheetah to another.

Cheetahs are indeed fascinating animals. We were having trouble breeding them in captivity, however. They're so designed for speed that their pelvic opening is very small and it was very difficult for them to mate easily. Zoos have had better luck lately - and that's good news.