The Cheetah

Now that you know that cheetahs are in danger, time to get to know them a bit better.
You probably all know that cheetahs can run faster than a car on the interstate speed limit. Most cheetahs can run 70 miles an hour. Some have been recorded to run up to 80 miles an hour-but that's very rare. Cheetahs can't maintain this speed for long. They can only sprint for about 15-20 seconds in the hyperdrive mode, just enough to catch an unsuspecting gazelle. Even though the gazelle is a 40 mile per hour runner, a alert gazelle+a head start=one frustrated cheetah. Actually, only one out of every 10 cheetah hunts actually work. You see, a cheetah is about 125 pounds, 3 Ft tall at the shoulder, and 7 feet long. A lion, however is about 500 pounds, is substantially bigger, and more power than speed. Cheetahs are built to RUN!!! You don't see lions running very fast, right? Top speed of a lion is about 50 miles an hour, however, when a cheetah is getting it's breath back from chasing an gazelle before eating it, a lion steals the gazelle. Since the cheetah is less powerful than the lion, well, it has to give the food up or get hurt. That has contributed to the cheetah decline. Unfortunately, we can't do anything about it. It's natural. We can't mess nature up.
You think all cheetahs have spots, right? No. There is a very rare occurrence happening once in a blue moon. A cheetah will have stripes! That is called a king cheetah. No, it's not a different species, like someone once thought. No, it is not a mutated panther, it is a gene. See, if two king cheetahs mate, one of the babies has to be king. If one cheetah and one king cheetah mate, there is a 50% chance that there will be a king. If two carriers of the king cheetah gene mate, than there is a 25% chance of a king baby. It is a recessive gene. However, there are only 12 king cheetahs sighted-11 by tourists and one king cheetah skin. It is VERY RARE that a king cheetah is born and even rarer that two king cheetahs will meet and mate to have babies.