Cheetah Cub Plush

Check out the wonderful world of Nature Planet Eco Pals, where adorable plush toys promote conservation!

Cheetahs have slender, long-legged bodies with blunt, semi-retractable claws. Their heads are small with high-set eyes. A black tear mark runs from the inner corner of each eye down to the mouth. A cheetah's teeth are small when compared with other big cats, which accommodates their larger nasal passages that enable quick air intake.

Built for speed, the cheetah can accelerate from zero to 45 in just 2.5 seconds and reach top speeds of 60 to 70 mph, making it the fastest land mammal! The cheetah's spotted coat helps it camouflage among the dry grasses of the African savanna where it lives.

Cheetahs have very low levels of genetic variation compared to other mammals, making them susceptible to disease. This genetic similarity may have developed due to of a severe population reduction, or bottleneck, that occurred about 10,000 years ago.

The cheetah is the single surviving species of the genus Acinonyx.