Cheetah

The cheetah is the fastest land animal reaching reported speeds of 100km per hour. Some believe that in most instances the top speed is only about 80km or 50mph. In any case, they are very fast for short distances. Unlike other cats, their claws do not retract. They are terrestrial and use sloping trees or mounds as observation posts. They have even been known to jump on a car for this purpose.. The cheetah is a solitary and diurnal (active in the day time) animal. When seen in groups, it is generally brothers or a pair mating. Of the top 5 predators in Africa, the cheetah is at the bottom. They must give way for Lions, Hyeana, Wild Dogs and Leopards. This is why they tend to consume their prey rapidly. If not they may well loose it to one of the other predators. As they are not the worlds best climbers they do not have the ability to take large game up a tree. (See Leopards) The majority of photos in this section were taken in Etosha and Kruger. Some of the more recent were takne in the Kalahari AKA Kgalagadi.