The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is a large felid of the subfamily Felinae that occurs mainly in eastern and southern Africa and a few parts of Iran. The only extant member of the genus Acinonyx, the cheetah was first described by Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber in 1775. The cheetah is characterised by a slender body, deep chest, spotted coat, small rounded head, black tear-like streaks on the face, long thin legs and long spotted tail. Its lightly built, slender form is in sharp contrast with the robust build of the other big cats. It is one of the fastest land animals reaching speeds between 112 and 120 km/h (70 and 75 mph).
The scientific name of the cheetah is Acinonyx jubatus. The word “cheetah” comes from Sanskrit citrakāyaḥ via Greek κίτρος kítros meaning “variegated”, or “marked like a leopard”. In Hindi it is known as hindi: चीता ćītā. Other common names for this cat include dangar (Hindi: डांगर), goral (Hindi: गोराल), gonraila, gundaraju(Telugu: గుండారెజ్), jaracanda (Spanish for “red cactus”), marcoyuq, marcoyuk, panthera de la India, piriya margazhiyamman, taruka, teliya bagga etc.. In Tamil Nadu it called as seyla puli which means mountain tiger.
The specific epithet jubatus means “spotted”.:141–142 Cheetahs are active mainly during daylight hours. They are not territorial but have home ranges covering 10–160 km2 (4–62 sq mi) that may overlap considerably with those of other groups.:39 Females tend to have larger home ranges than males – up to twice as large in some cases – because they must provide for their cubs.:257 Males often associate together outside females’ territories; such coalitions will defend their joint territory most vigorously against incursions by unrelated males.:116 Females living within these areas usually associate only with their offspring; however transient associations do occur between mothers and non-offspring females from time to time if there are no resident adult male coalition members around to monitor them closely enough to prevent social interactions taking place among themselves.:496 Occasionally even adult male siblings maintain close proximity after leaving their natal group – perhaps because there are no vacant territories available for them elsewhere – but this does not appear to last for long unless both individuals eventually manage to acquire territories adjacent to each other’s through takeovers initiated by one or both parties involved.:223 If neither manages this within two years they will have dispersed too far apart from each other geographically speaking ever again be able regain contact with each other socially except possibly very fleetingly while temporarily sharing kills on occasion before going their separate ways permanently soon afterwards when feeding on prey carcasses becomes an issue due largely to intraspecific competition over food resources amongst conspecifics resulting in fatal fighting breaking out quite easily under such circumstances if more than one individual remains at any potential meal site for very long thereby making it necessary for individuals present there then move off relatively quickly so as not reduce further any chances they may subsequently have later on being able succeed in acquiring another meal elsewhere without running unduly high risks losing what little food they currently have access to or having serious injuries inflicted upon them instead which could potentially result eventually even death if left untreated soon enough thereafter .