Baby Cheetahs
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Baby cheetahs are called cubs and are usually born in litters of three to five.
Baby cheetahs nurse for about three months, but can also begin eating meat when they are as young as 3 weeks old.
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FactsCheetah cubs are blind at birth and are covered with a thick coat of fur, called a mantle, which helps to protect them from predators.
After four months, baby cheetahs have the tawny, spotted coats of an adult.
After 6 weeks, cheetah cubs begin following their mother when she hunts and learn how to catch and kill antelope, small mammals, birds and rabbits.
One of the reasons that cheetahs are endangered in the wild is because of the high mortality rate of baby cheetahs.
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In the wild, cheetah cubs have a high mortality rate, approximately 90 percent, and it is estimated that 50 to 75 percent of cheetah cubs die before they reach three months of age.
By the time that a cheetah is 15 months old, it will have reached its full adult size and will have a white tip on its tail.
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