Cheetah 猎豹 (3)

The cubs learn a lot from their brothers and sisters. They wrestle, stalk, and chase one another. They practice skills they will need for hunting when they grow up. When the cubs are older, the mother cheetah teaches them to hunt. She also shows the cubs which predators to avoid.

Cheetahs have lived on Earth for a long, long time. As far back as ancient Egypt, pharaohs kept cheetahs as pets. The famous pharaoh King Tut was buried with many statues of cheetahs. Art from ancient Egypt shows cheetahs on statues, furniture, and in paintings.

Cheetahs make sounds that tell how they are feeling. Cheetahs can’t roar like other big cats. But they can purr like a house cat. Here is a dictionary for understanding cheetah talk.

Purring: This is a low, motor-like sound, made when a cheetah is happy or content. 

Bleating: A cheetah bleats when it’s upset. It sounds like a cat’s meow. 

Hissing: When a cheetah feels angry or threatened, it may let out a sharp “h” sound. 

Growling: A cheetah growls when it feels angry or threatened.

Chirping: Cheetahs chirp when they look for each other. The call sounds like a chirping bird.

You need space to run, to jump, and to play - and so do cheetahs. More people and more buildings push cheetahs onto smaller pieces of land. Cheetahs need lots of open space to live, to hunt, and to have babies.

Less open space means cheetahs are disappearing. Today fewer than 12,000 cheetahs live in the wild. （该书初版于2013年8月，目前世界范围内野生猎豹数量有待考证。）But some people are working to save cheetahs. And we are learning more about this big cats. The more we know, the better chance we have to keep cheetahs on Earth.