Asiatic Cheetah

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

iAsiatic cheetah

Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Acinonychinae
Genus: Acinonyx
Brookes, 1828
Species: A. jubatus
Subspecies: A. j. venaticus
Trinomial name
Acinonyx jubatus venaticus

The Asiatic cheetah ("cheetah" from Hindi चीता cītā, derived from Sanskrit word chitraka meaning "speckled") (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) is a rare critically endangered subspecies of the cheetah found primarily in Iran. It is an atypical member of the cat family (Felidae) that hunts by speed rather than by stealth or pack tactics. It lives in a vast fragmented desert and although recently extinct in India it is also known as the Indian cheetah. It is the fastest of all land animals and can reach speeds of up to 70 mph (112 km/h). The cheetah is well known for its amazing acceleration (0-100 km/h in 3.5 seconds which is faster than the SLR McLaren, the Lamborghini Murciélago and the F/A-18 Hornet).[2]

Contents

[edit] Description

The cheetah has a slender slim body and broad chest and a highly set abdomen, which resembles a hound. It has a small, domed head with a short nose and small ears and eyes which are set high up on the skull. A pair of distinct black “tear marks” runs from the corners of the eyes, down the sides of the nose to the mouth, possibly keeping the sun out of their eyes, which benefits hunting.

The cheetah's back coat is light yellow to yellowish-amber and the underbody-coat is creamy white. They have full circular black spots with relatively short coarse fur In adults, the very tip of the tail has two rings instead of spots, with the last ring the widest. Unlike other cats, adult cheetahs have dull, semi-retractable claws, although until about the first six months of their lives, the young are able to retract their claws. Head and body, adult Asiatic cheetahs measure from 112-135 cm with a tail length between 66-84 cm. They can weigh from 34-54 kg, but the male is slightly larger than the female.

[edit] Classification

Acinonyx jubatus venaticus. The genus name, Acinonyx, means "no-move-claw" in Greek, while the species name, jubatus, means "maned" in Latin, a reference to the mane found in cheetah cubs. Even when retracted, the claws remain visible and are used for grip during the cheetah's acceleration and maneuvering, performing the same function as canine claws.

[edit] Other Names

Iranian/Indian/Persian cheetah (English);

chita, laggar (Hindi: India);

vaengai (Tamil: India);

yuz, yuz palang (Persian: Iran);

fahd al sayad (Arabic);

yeoz (Brahui: Pakistan);

gurk (Mekrani: Pakistan);

pulam (Bukharian & Turkmen: Turkmenistan);

tazy palang (Dari: Afghanistan);

tazy prang (Pashto: Afghanistan);

ala bars, pyestrai or pyatnistai bars (Kazakh: Kazakhstan);

myallen, koplon (Uzbek: Uzbekistan);

Asiaskii gepard (Russian);

adèle amayas (Tamahaq, Tamacheq Touareg: North-West Sahara);

guépard (French);

Gepard (German);

guepardo, chita (Spanish);

[edit] Habitat

Cheetahs thrive in open lands, small plains, semi-desert areas and other open habitats where prey is available. The Asiatic cheetah is found exclusively in the Kavir desert region of Iran, which includes parts of the Kerman, Khorasan, Semnan, Yazd, Tehran and Markazi provinces.The Asiatic cheetah also seems to survive in the dry open Balochistan province of Pakistan where adequate prey is available. The cheetah's habitat is under threat from desertification, increasing agriculture, residential settlements and declining prey - caused by hunting and degradation in pastures by overgrazing from introduced livestock.[3]

[edit] Diet

The Asiatic cheetah preys on small antelopes. In Iran, it feeds mainly upon Goitered and Jebeer gazelle, and sometimes even rabbits and rodents. In India fifty years ago, prey was abundant, and it fed upon Blackbuck, Chinkara and sometimes even Chital and Neelgai. [4]

[edit] History

The Asiatic cheetah once ranged from Arabia to India, through Iran, central Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan and, particularly in Iran and Indian subcontinent, it was numerous. Cheetahs are the only big cat that can be tamed and rulers trained them to hunt gazelle. The Mughal Emperor of India, Akbar, is said to have had 1,000 cheetahs at one time, something depicted in in many Persian and Indian miniature paintings.

But by the beginning of the twentieth century, it was already heading for extinction in many areas. The last physical evidence of cheetahs in India was three shot (with two bullets) by the Maharajah of Surguja in 1947 in eastern Madhya Pradesh. By 1990, cheetahs appeared to survive only in Iran. Estimated to number more than 200 during the 1970s, more recently Irainian Biologist Hormoz Asadi estimated that the number of cheetahs left to be between 50 and 100 and figures for 2005-2006 are between 50 and 60 in the wild. Most of these 60 cheetahs live in Iran on the Kavir desert and a remnant population inhabits the dry terrain covering the border of Iran and Pakistan. Locals in the areas the cheetah lives say they have not seen it for more than fifteen years.[5]

Following the Islamic Revolution of 1978, wildlife conservation was given a lower priority; cheetahs and their principal prey, gazelles, were hunted, resulting in a rapid decline. As a result, the Asiatic cheetah is now listed as Critically Endangered in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. Some surveys by Asadi in the latter half of 1997 show that urgent action is required to rehabilitate wildlife populations, especially gazelles - the primary prey of cheetahs in that area - and their habitat if the cheetah is to survive.

[edit] Current Status

[edit] Threats

The Asiatic cheetah exist in very low numbers, divided into widely separated populations. Their low densities make them more likely to be affected by a lack of prey through livestock overgrazing and antelope hunting, coupled with direct persecution from humans. While protected areas comprise a key component of the cheetah's habitat, management needs to be improved.

[edit] Conservation

Iran’s Department of the Environment, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) have launched the Conservation of the Asiatic Cheetah Project (CACP) designed to preserve and rehabilitate the remaining areas of cheetah habitat left in Iran.[6]

India, where the Asiatic cheetah is now extinct, is interested in cloning the cheetah to reintroduce it to the country,[7] and it was claimed that Iran - the donor country - was willing to participate in the project.[8] Later on, however, Iran refused to send a male and female cheetah or to allow experts to collect tissue samples from a cheetah kept in a zoo there.[9]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Cat Specialist Group (1996). Acinonyx jubatus ventaticus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 September 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is critically endangered.
  2. ^ San Diego Zoo facts about cheetahs
  3. ^ Conservation of Asiatic cheetah project (CACP) - Frequently offline
  4. ^ Asiatic cheetah - Facts page
  5. ^ Asiatic cheetah on felidae.org
  6. ^ Conservation of the Asiatic Cheetah Project - IUCN
  7. ^ Pros and Cons of inbreeding - See footnotes on page
  8. ^ [Wildlife-India] News: Cheetah cloning project gets a boost
  9. ^ Mullas' regime says "No" to cloning of cheetah

[edit] Links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../a/s/i/Asiatic_Cheetah_2d6e.html"
In other languages