Cheetahs, A Flaming Hot Take

Cats have captured the hearts of many elderly women, and the attention of much of the internet. From the mischievous house cat to the king of the jungle, cats come in all shapes and sizes. But the question is, which cat is the worst? The answer couldn’t be clearer. From poor social skills, questionable hunting tactics, and simply bad genes, the Cheetah is the laughing stock of the feline world.

Today many issues have made their way into the modern cheetah’s lives, Social Skills being among them. In the wild cheetahs are often portrayed as powerful and social animals, however, this couldn’t be further from the truth. “The reality is cheetahs are quite shy, sensitive, and introverted animals. They also very easily become anxious,” says Caesar Millan, The Dog Whisperer. This is problematic because if cheetahs get too anxious they won’t breed. That's cause for concern for experts since cheetahs are endangered.

However, the hunting tactics cheetahs employ are a bigger issue for the wild populations. Typically, cats stick to ambush tactics. Catching their prey off guard and taking them down quickly with their sharp claws. Unfortunately, cheetahs broke off from this trend. Cheetahs tend to be pursuit hunters, meaning they chase down their prey at high speeds. On the other hand, high speeds are only achievable because the cats use their claws for additional traction, which weakens their chances of taking down their target. “About 40 to 50 percent of cheetah hunts end in a kill, which is on the lower end of success rates among African big cats.” Claims National Geographic. But just because they can get the kill doesn't mean they get to keep it. Cheetahs burn up a lot of energy while hunting. “Often, hyenas and lions will take advantage of this, stealing the cheetah’s hard-won meal.” States North Carolina University.

The final nail in the coffin lies in their genes. Modern cheetahs first evolved around 200,000 years ago during the Pleistocene. Originating from North America, they crossed the Bering Strait into Asia, India, Europe, and Africa 100,000 YA. This causes the first genetic bottleneck event. Once these big cats reached the eastern world they spread far and wide, limiting the accessibility to other cheetahs. This is what's called a “Founders Effect ''. Typically applicable to animals colonizing islands, this basically means their gene pool got cut off to those in the immediate area. This causes inbreeding, which is never good, a great example of this would be your mom. Cheetahs then lived for another 90,000 years without much issue. However things started to change, and the biggest problem was global warming.

“Some scientists think that cheetahs were reduced to a population of less than seven individuals, about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.” Claims Karl S. Kruszelnicki, from the Australian Broadcasting Network. Around this time came the close of the last Ice Age. Of course, cheetahs weren’t the only ones affected by this rapid change, about 35 other types of large mammals went extinct as well. Giant Deer, Ground Sloths, and Mammoths, to name a few. Once the Pleistocene came to an end many cheetahs died out. The North American cheetah among them. Again limiting the gene pool even further. “They are so inbred, that genetically they are almost identical… They survived only through brother-to-sister or parent-to-child mating.” States Karl.

Two genetic bottleneck events typically mean curtain call for a species, but cheetahs persevered. However, as previously mentioned, they didn't get by scott free. Cheetahs have been inbreeding for the last 10,000-ish years, Or for the entirety of the Holocene Epoch. (Which we’re still in right now). This has had many negative effects on cheetahs as a whole, they suffer from high mortality in their cubs and incredibly low genetic diversity. This is troublesome because it essentially land-locks the cheetahs' adaptations. “Being inbred also means that the lineage is less likely to evolve in response to new environmental conditions or pathogens. For natural selection to work, it requires genetic variation to act on. So if variation is absent, the species simply cannot adapt.” States Christopher A. Emerling, of UC Berkeley Museum of Vertebrate Zoology.

From poor social skills, questionable hunting tactics, and simply bad genes, the future of cheetahs is up for debate. The issue is we’re doing the best we can with what’s left. The clock is ticking for our feline friends, and although this Kitty Power House is the fastest land animal alive, nothing will help them outrun their own extinction.