Post #14667

Good cat: Why do cheetahs never attack humans? The cheetah is the kindest wild cat in the world. Is it true that cheetahs never attack humans? Once upon a time, under our article about big cats, I saw a very strange comment. “Cheetahs never attack humans” - that’s what they said on the other side of the screen. I immediately wanted to start an argument, because this simply cannot happen! The cheetah, the fastest animal on the planet, a cruel predator that has honed its hunting skills for millions of years, does not fit in with the image of man’s friend. And imagine my surprise when this turned out to be true! By comparison, the lion, the great and terrible king of beasts, kills up to 250 people every year. And this is now, during the time of firearms! The story with tigers is a little more modest, but it still makes you think - about 50 people die from their paws every year. What about cheetahs? Get ready: in the entire history of wildlife research, there is not a single officially documented case of a cheetah killing a person. 0 casualties! There have been several attacks in captivity, but there the person himself provoked the attack. Once, for example, a woman was bitten after for some reason she climbed into the enclosure of predators at the zoo. The article could end here - no victims, no case, but everything is not so simple. You also wonder why the animals are so kind to us? And how did this kindness turn out for the cheetahs themselves? The most basic and simplest reason for kindness is that people are simply not on their menu. Cheetahs, unlike lions, tigers and other large seals that have spent millions of years honing their skills in close combat with heavy prey, have chosen a completely different direction - small ungulates. They are fun to drive around the savannah, and if something happens, they will not offer serious resistance. Unlike a buffalo or a zebra, for example. Or a large primate. The hunting tactics of cheetahs are perfected to the smallest detail: get as close as possible, start the chase, trip, strangle the fallen victim. Having evolved as sprinters, they received an ultra-lightweight anatomy, which now allows cheetahs to accelerate to 104 kilometers per hour, but makes the predator itself extremely vulnerable. With a height of 94 centimeters at the withers, cheetahs weigh a maximum of 65 kilograms. For comparison, other mustaches with the same height weigh 2 or even 3 times more. Slim, loud animals very quickly get seriously injured in fights, which means they risk starving to death. And this is the second reason for such a calm disposition of big seals. They are well aware of their fragility. Despite their excellent hunting skills, cheetahs do not occupy the top of the food chain, but huddle somewhere in the middle. In the savannah, literally anyone can take away their hard-earned food - lions, hyenas, leopards, and even a pack of wild dogs can drive away a poor runner. After a hard race, cautious che