I love animals - Information and questions from a video for small kids - Part 9 Cheetah
What a majestic animal the cheetah is - he is part of the cat family and even tho they are not as good a tree climber as their 'cousin' the house cat, they can run faster than any other animal on land.
They can run as fast as up to 113 km/h. Now wonder it catches its prey so quickly. They have to catch their prey as quickly as possible, because even though they run so fast, they get tired easily and cannot keep that speed up for too long.
Look at the face of a cheetah. It looks like it has marks on its face that was caused by tears. It runs down from the eye to the mouth and is called the 'tear marks' but it has a very specific function. It helps to keep the reflection and glare from the sun out of their eyes when they hunt during the day.
The cheetah is much smaller than a lion or tiger and they weigh only about 45-60 kg. Another thing that a tiger and lion can do which the cheetah cannot do is roar. They can however purr very loudly and will purr even more if they groom themselves or are in contact with other cheetahs.
Cheetahs prefer to hunt during the day, because their night vision is poor.
A cheetah will usually not get in a fight with a larger animal over their prey. They have blunt claws and are usually lighter than a bigger animal, so will rather just give up the prey.
A cheetah is a carnivore which means it eats meat. It hunts smaller animals and only has to drink water every 3 to 4 days
- Have a look at the video. Listen carefully and then answer the questions
- How fast can cheetahs run and how long will it take to reach its top speed?
- What is the function of the tail?
- Can a cheetah retract its claws? Why does this help?
- How does the bottom of a cheetahs foot differ from that of a cat?
- What does the tear marks help with? Name 2 things.
- Does a cheetah have spots on its fur or on the skin?
- What is the meaning of the word 'carnivore'?
- How does a cheetah kill their prey?
- What is the function of the mantle of the cubs?
- What do you call a group of cheetahs?
- Now that you have learned a few new things about cheetahs, get your crayons and pencils and draw a nice picture of one. You can watch the video or you can can make your own drawing, Lets get creative.
