cheetah – YLoveBigCats https://www.ylovebigcats.com/en Big cats from the world,<br>a world of big cats Mon, 30 Oct 2017 13:55:47 +0000 en-US hourly 1 The Giant American Cheetah was not fast, but powerful https://www.ylovebigcats.com/en/2016/09/09/the-giant-american-cheetah-was-not-fast-but-powerful/ Fri, 09 Sep 2016 15:15:36 +0000 https://ylovebigcats.com/en/?p=1002 You certainly heard about the American Cheetah, this long-lost fossil of a cheetah which was living in North America up to about three million years ago. While the term calls images of a slender speeding cat, it seems that this was more a Giant Cheetah than a Cheetah.

The Miracinonix genus was made of two species (as far as we know today) which appear to have been at least twice as big as current African cheetahs and as large as an American cougar or mountain lion. And they were probably not as slender and not as fast as those current cats.

But a Sorbonne University paleontologist, Denis Geraads, also analyzed the structure of the fossil craniums and compared it to the common cheetah cranium (see his paper). He concludes that the giant cheetah had jaws so much more powerful that they had probably a different kill strategy. The African cheetah is not very powerful so it relies on a kiss-of-death solution (holding/strangling its victim neck until it dies from asphyxation), while the Miracinonix was probably strong enough to crush through a skull (or break its victim’s neck).

Cheetah skulls

]]> You never saw a cheetah run like that https://www.ylovebigcats.com/en/2016/05/31/you-never-saw-a-cheetah-run-like-that/ Tue, 31 May 2016 20:15:11 +0000 https://ylovebigcats.com/en/?p=997 Actually, the Cincinnati Zoo posted a video of Savanna, a cheetah. But the camera was… on the shoulders of the cheetah.

Bumpy ride at full speed, but nice to see.

]]> A cheetah plays in the snow! https://www.ylovebigcats.com/en/2016/01/26/a-cheetah-plays-in-the-snow/ Tue, 26 Jan 2016 08:20:50 +0000 https://ylovebigcats.com/en/?p=989

This is not usual: A cheetah playing in fresh snow.

Not more common: A cheetah playing with a dog.

But it was in a zoo…

]]> Cheetah’s speed machine run in images https://www.ylovebigcats.com/en/2015/04/29/cheetahs-speed-machine-run-in-images/ https://www.ylovebigcats.com/en/2015/04/29/cheetahs-speed-machine-run-in-images/#comments Wed, 29 Apr 2015 17:20:37 +0000 https://ylovebigcats.com/en/?p=943 I love the way cheetahs outperform many man-made machines in terms of acceleration and speed. But I also love it when somebody demonstrates beautifully how it works and gives us some stats and facts about cheetahs.

Lovely visit to be done to Cheetah’s Nature speed machine.

Cheetah as a speed machine

]]> https://www.ylovebigcats.com/en/2015/04/29/cheetahs-speed-machine-run-in-images/feed/ 1 My GoPro against the cheetah https://www.ylovebigcats.com/en/2013/12/11/my-gopro-against-the-cheetah/ Tue, 10 Dec 2013 22:47:03 +0000 https://ylovebigcats.com/en/?p=837 That should be the title of this video where a wild cheetah goes exploring this weird object left by a wildlife videographer: a GoPro camera.

You wouldn’t expect a cheetah to be so cute.

]]> The baby cheetah who mewed? https://www.ylovebigcats.com/en/2011/11/17/the-baby-cheetah-who-mewed/ Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:48:04 +0000 https://ylovebigcats.com/en/?p=787 Did you see a baby cheetah mew before?


YouTube link

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