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Photo: James Temple · CC BY 2.0

SpeciesCarnivoraFelidae

Carnivores

🐆Cheetah

Acinonyx jubatus (Schreber, 1775)

チーター（英: cheetah、学名: Acinonyx jubatus）は、哺乳綱食肉目ネコ科チーター属に分類される食肉類。現生種では、本種のみでチーター属を構成する。狩猟豹（しゅりょうひょう）や猟豹（りょうひょう）とも呼ばれた。英名 cheetah はヒンディー語 cītā からの借用で、究極的には「模様のある」を意味するサンスクリットに由来する。属名Acionyxはギリシア語で「動かない爪」を意味する造語で、ネコ科に珍しくつねに突出したままの爪（後述）を指しての命名。種小名jubatusは「たてがみのある」を意味するラテン語で、頸部から背にかけての伸長した体毛（後述）に由来する。スピードに特化しており、停止状態から約3秒で時速110キロまで加速できるとされ、世界最速の哺乳類といわれている。性格は他の大型ネコ科動物と比べると、攻撃的ではなく穏やかで、空を見つめてボーっとする様子もよく見られる。同じ種同士で激しくケンカをする事は無い。

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos

406

Photos

Measurements

vs you

≈ half your weight

Conservation status

VUVulnerable

IUCN Red List assessment, 2024.

Population trendDecreasing

Key measurements

Body mass: 51 kg
Body length: 1.49 m
Shoulder height: 0.8 m
Top speed: 104 km/h
Bite force: 472 N
Maximum lifespan: 20 years

All measurements ↓

Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Cheetah

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass

51 kg

COMBINE

Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

By sex

Female35 kgWikidataQ23907
Male40 kgWikidataQ23907

Figures vary

54 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: high

Body length

1.49 m

COMBINE

Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Shoulder height

0.8 m0.7–0.9 m · typical range

Details ↓

Sex not specified in source; value is the midpoint of the published range.

Source: Krausman & Morales 2005, Mammalian Species 771, p.2 · see citation

Top speed

104 km/h

Details ↓

MEASURED: mean of three timed runs over a 201.2 m course with a running start (29 m/s). The fastest speed ever recorded from a FREE-RANGING cheetah is lower -- 93 km/h across 367 hunts by GPS and inertial collar (Wilson et al. 2013, Nature 498:185) -- and most hunts were far slower. Hirt's 120 km/h is speedofanimals.com.

Source: Sharp 1997, J Zool 241:493 (timed run) · see citation

Bite force

472 N

Details ↓

Canine bite modelled by the dry-skull method (Thomason 1991) from a prepared skull; static bite at the canines, gape not stated. Not a live measurement. The skull's estimated body mass was 29.5 kg.

Source: Wroe, McHenry & Thomason 2005, Proc R Soc B 272:619, Table 1 · see citation

Bite force for its size

119

Details ↓

Bite force normalised for body mass: the residual of canine bite force regressed on body mass, average across the sample set to 100. Above 100 means the animal bites harder than its size predicts. Do not cross-check against Wikipedia's BFQ table, which silently mixes this paper with Christiansen & Wroe 2007 and cites a popular-science book.

Source: Wroe, McHenry & Thomason 2005, Proc R Soc B 272:619, Table 1 · see citation

Brain mass

115 g

COMBINE

Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan

20 years

COMBINE

Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0