Hunting with the Cheetah

Joel 1:6
“For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth [are] the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.”

Just recently we spoke about the Cheetah. No other cat has such speed, and as a result, the cheetah’s tactics are unique, especially since the cheetah will not eat anything it has not freshly killed.

Cheetahs hunt alone, during the day, on the grassy plains. This means that its prey usually sees it coming. The hungry cheetah carefully stalks its prey, hoping not to be noticed until it is 600 to 900 feet away from the victim. At that point, the cheetah breaks into a flat-out chase, reaching speeds of up to 70 miles per hour. By the time the cheetah catches up to his prey, he seldom has enough strength left to kill anything very large.

About the largest animal the cheetah will hunt is the 40-pound Thomson’s gazelle. And after killing an animal this size, the cheetah will be panting for half an hour before he is able to eat. During this time, any lion or hyena which happens along may steal the hapless cheetah’s hard-earned meal. In one study in Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park, researchers found that lions hijacked 12 percent of the cheetah’s meals.
 
The incredible variety of special abilities the Creator has given to different creatures not only shows us how great His imagination is, but also His care for the balance in nature.

Prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father, You have personally given each creature special gifts and personal love. I pray that You would help me to more clearly understand and better use the gifts You have given me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Notes:
Photo: Though cheetahs are social animals, they hunt alone. Courtesy of Filip Lachowski. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.