Cheetah Facts for Kids

25 Cheetah Facts For Kids

1. The cheetah is a large cat that is the only living member of the Acinonyx genus in the Felidae family.
2. The cheetah’s binomial name is Acinonyx jubatus.
3. German naturalist Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber first scientifically described the Cheetah in 1777.
4. There are four subspecies of the cheetah species, and they are the Asiatic cheetah (A. j. jubatus), Northeast African cheeta (A. j. soemmeringii), Northwest African cheetah (A. j. hecki) and the Southeast African cheetah (A. j. jubatus).
5. The oldest cheetah fossils discovered by paleontologists were between 3 and 3.5 million years old.
6. Cheetahs are widely known and popular for their orange fur, black spots, and amazing running speed.
7. The cheetah’s habitat range includes parts of Africa and Iran.
8. The cheetah’s preferred habitat is grasslands and savannas, but they can be found in a wide range of other habitats.
9. There is estimated to be less than 8,000 cheetahs living in the wild worldwide.
10. Cheetahs are carnivores and they hunt small to medium sized mammals.
11. Some of the common prey hunted by cheetahs is the gazelle, impala, and springbok.
12. Cheetah’s have short fur that is yellow or tan, with black spots randomly throughout their coat.
13. The black spots on a cheetah range between 0.75 and 1.5 inches in diameter.
14. Cheetahs on average have about 2,000 individual black spots.
15. A cheetah’s black spots help it with hunting and hiding by acting as a camouflage.
16. Cheetah are vocal, but don’t roar like other big cats, instead they make sounds similar to a domesticated cat.
17. An adult cheetah’s weight is between 75 and 140 pounds.
18. An adult cheetah’s body length is between 44 and 56 inches.
19. An adult cheetah’s tail length is between 26 and 33 inches.
20. An adult cheetah’s lifespan is between 8 to 10 years in the wild and 12 to 15 years in captivity.
21. An adult cheetah can go from zero to 45 miles per hour in only 2.5 seconds.
22. An adult cheetah can reach a maximum running speed of 70 miles per hour.
23. An adult cheetah can only maintain a running speed of 70 miles per hour for about 900 feet.
24. Cheetahs are the fastest running land animals on our planet.
25. Cheetahs are diurnal, which means they are active during the day, especially after dawn and before dusk.

Cheetah Pictures

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the below images will be helpful for your research on cheetahs. Below are three pictures of various cheetahs. These pictures should help you better understand the cheetah and how it looks.

A picture of a cheetah's head up close.

A picture of a cheetah chasing its prey down.

A picture of a cheetah mother and her cubs.