The cheetah, the fastest land mammal, begins life with its young called cubs. This term is shared with lions and tigers, unlike kittens, which are the young of smaller felines. A female cheetah typically gives birth to a litter averaging three to five cubs after a gestation period of about 90 to 95 days. Survival is challenging, with mortality rates in the wild reaching as high as 75% to 90% in the first few months.
Distinctive Physical Traits
Cheetah cubs are born with a dense coat of fur. This long, thick, silvery-gray hair that runs along their back and neck is known as a mantle. The mantle’s primary function is camouflage, helping the small cub blend into the tall grass and scrub where the mother hides them.
The silvery mantle also provides a striking example of biological mimicry. Its appearance is thought to resemble the aggressive honey badger, a creature predators generally avoid. By confusing a hungry lion or hyena into thinking the cub is a more dangerous animal, the mantle offers a temporary shield. This protective hair is gradually shed as the cub grows, typically disappearing by the time the cub is around three months old.
The First Year of Life
The first few weeks are a period of extreme vulnerability, as the mother keeps her newborns hidden in secluded dens, such as thickets or rocky crevices. Born blind and weighing only about 150 to 400 grams, the cubs are entirely dependent on their solitary mother. The mother must leave them alone to hunt, which exposes the cubs to the constant threat of predation from animals like lions, hyenas, and leopards. To reduce the risk of discovery, the mother frequently relocates the cubs, moving them to a new hiding spot every few days for the first six to eight weeks.
The cubs begin to follow their mother out of the den and on her daily movements around six weeks of age. This is the start of their education, as they observe her hunting techniques and survival strategies. Play with siblings, including stalking and pouncing, serves as practice for the complex skills they will need as adults.
The mother introduces the cubs to meat around six to eight weeks old and weans them fully by six months. The period of instruction continues until the young cheetahs are approximately 15 to 20 months old, at which point they separate to begin their independent lives. Males from the same litter often remain together in a coalition, but females tend to leave alone.