Day 6 cont
Professor Abraham
"The speeds attained by the cheetah may be only slightly greater than those achieved by the pronghorn at 88.5 km/h and the springbok at 88 km/h, but the cheetah additionally has exceptional acceleration," I say.
"One stride of a galloping cheetah measures 4 to 7 m, and the stride length and the number of jumps increase with speed. During more than half the duration of the sprint, the cheetah has all four limbs in the air, increasing the stride length," I say.
"Running cheetahs can retain up to 90% of the heat generated during the chase; a 1973 study suggested the length of the sprint is limited by excessive build-up of body heat when the body temperature reaches 40–41 °C; however, a 2013 study recorded the average temperature of cheetahs after hunts to be 38.6 °C, suggesting high temperatures need not cause hunts to be abandoned," I say.
"Cheetahs are active mainly during the day, whereas other carnivores such as leopards and lions are active mainly at night, and these larger carnivores can kill cheetahs and steal their kills; hence, the diurnal tendency of cheetahs helps them avoid larger predators in areas where they are sympatric."
"In areas where the cheetah is the major predator, activity tends to increase at night, and this may also happen in highly arid regions such as the Sahara, where daytime temperatures can reach 43 °C," I add.
"The lunar cycle can also influence the cheetah's routine, as activity might increase on moonlit nights as prey can be sighted easily, though this comes with the danger of encountering larger predators," I say.
"Hunting is the major activity throughout the day, with peaks during dawn and dusk and groups resting in grassy clearings after dusk," I continue. 
"Cheetahs often inspect their vicinity at observation points such as elevations to check for prey or larger carnivores; even while resting, they take turns keeping a lookout."
"Cheetahs have a flexible and complex social structure and tend to be more gregarious than several other cats, except the lion," I say. 
"Individuals typically avoid one another but are generally amicable; males may fight over territories or access to females in oestrus, and on rare occasions, such fights can result in severe injury and death." 
"Females are not social and have minimal interaction with other individuals, barring the interaction with males when they enter their territories or during the mating season." 
"Some females, generally mothers and offspring or siblings, may rest beside one another during the day, and females tend to lead a solitary life or live with offspring in undefended home ranges, whereas young females often stay close to their mothers for life, but young males leave their mother's range to live elsewhere," I say.
"Some males are territorial and group together for life, forming coalitions that collectively defend a territory that ensures maximum access to females, and this is unlike the behavior of the male lion who mates with a particular group of females," I continue. 
"In most cases, a coalition will consist of brothers born in the same litter who stayed together after weaning, but biologically unrelated males are often allowed into the group; in Serengeti, 30% of coalition members are unrelated males," I say. 
"If a cub is the only male in a litter, he will typically join an existing group or form a small group of solitary males with two or three other lone males who may or may not be territorial," I continue.
"Males in a coalition are affectionate toward each other, grooming mutually and calling out if any member is lost, while unrelated males may face some aversion in their initial days in the group," I say. 
"All males in the coalition typically have equal access to kills when the group hunts together, and possibly also to females who may enter their territory," I say.
"A coalition generally has a greater chance of encountering and acquiring females for mating; however, its large membership demands greater resources than do solitary males. A 1987 study showed that solitary and grouped males have a nearly equal chance of coming across females, but the males in coalitions are notably healthier and have better chances of survival than their solitary counterparts," I explain.
"Unlike many other felids, among cheetahs, females tend to occupy larger areas compared to males; females typically disperse over large areas in pursuit of prey, but they are less nomadic and roam in a smaller area if prey availability in the area is high; as such, the size of their home range depends on the distribution of prey in a region," I say. 
"Cheetahs can travel long stretches overland in search of food, as a study in the Kalahari Desert recorded an average displacement of nearly 11 km every day, and walking speeds ranged between 2.5 and 3.8 km/h," I say.
"Males are generally less nomadic than females, and often males in coalitions and sometimes solitary males staying far from coalitions establish territories," I say.
"Whether males settle in territories or disperse over large areas, forming home ranges, depends primarily on the movements of females, and territoriality is preferred only if females tend to be more sedentary, which is more feasible in areas with plenty of prey," I say.
"Some males, called floaters, switch between territoriality and nomadism depending on the availability of females." 
"The ranges of floaters averaged 777 km2 in the Serengeti to 1,464 km2 in central Namibia," I say.
"A coalition of three males occupied a territory measuring 126 km2, and the territory of a solitary male measured 195 km2," I say. 
"When a female enters a territory, the males will surround her, and if she tries to escape, the males will bite or snap at her, so generally, the female cannot escape on her own till the males themselves leave after they lose interest in her, and they may smell the spot she was sitting or lying on to determine if she was in oestrus," I say.
"The cheetah is a vocal felid with a broad repertoire of calls and sounds, and the acoustic features and use of many of these have been studied in detail. The vocal characteristics, such as the way they are produced, are often different from those of other cats; for instance, a study showed that exhalation is louder than inhalation in cheetahs, while no such distinction was observed in the domestic cat," I say.
"Some commonly recorded vocalizations observed in cheetahs are chirping, which is a chirp like an intense bird-like call and lasts less than a second, and chirping when they are excited; for instance, when gathered around a kill, other uses include summoning concealed or lost cubs by the mother, or as a greeting or courtship between adults," I say.
"The cheetah's chirp is similar to the soft roar of the lion, and its churr is similar to the latter's loud roar. A similar but louder call can be heard from up to 2 km away, and this call is typically used by mothers to locate lost cubs or by cubs to find their mothers and siblings," I say.
"Two is the chirring, which is a shrill, staccato call that can last up to two seconds as well," I continue. 
"Churring and chirping have been noted for their similarity to the soft and loud roars of the lion, and they are produced in a similar context as chirping, but a study of feeding cheetahs found chirping to be much more common," I say.
"Three, purring, which is similar to the purring in domestic cats but much louder, is produced when the cheetah is content, as a form of greeting, or when licking one another, and it involves continuous sound production alternating between egressive and ingressive airstreams," I say.
"Four agonistic sounds, which include bleating, coughing, growling, hissing, meowing, and moaning, indicate distress; for instance, when a cheetah confronts a predator that has stolen its kill," I say.
"Growls, hisses, and moans are accompanied by multiple, strong hits on the ground with the front paw, during which the cheetah may retreat by a few meters, and a meow, though a versatile call, is typically associated with discomfort or irritation," I say.
"Apart from chirping, mothers can use a repeated "ihn ihn" to gather cubs and a "prr prr" to guide them on a journey, while a low-pitched alarm call is used to warn the cubs to stand still," I say. 
"Bickering cubs can let out a "whirr," and the pitch rises with the intensity of the quarrel and ends on a harsh note," I say.
"Another major means of communication is by scent, where the male will often investigate urine-marked places for a long time by crouching on his forelegs and carefully smelling the place, then he will raise his tail and urinate on an elevated spot such as a tree trunk, stump, or rock, observing individuals who might repeat the ritual," I say.
"Females may also show marking behavior, but less prominently than males do," I add.
"Among females, those in oestrus will show maximum urine marking, and their excrement can attract males from far away," I say.
"Touch and visual cues are other ways of signalling in cheetahs" I continue. 
"Social meetings involve mutual sniffing of the mouth, anus, and genitals, and individuals will groom one another, lick each other's faces, and rub cheeks; however, they seldom lean on or rub their flanks against each other," I say.
"The tear streaks on the face can sharply define expressions at close range, and mothers probably use the alternate light and dark rings on the tail to signal their cubs to follow them."
"The cheetah is a carnivore that hunts small to medium-sized prey weighing 20 to 60 kg, but mostly less than 40 kg, and its primary prey are medium-sized ungulates," I say.
"They are the major component of the diet in certain areas, such as the Dama and Dorcas gazelles in the Sahara, impala in the eastern and southern African woodlands, springbok in the arid savannas to the south, and Thomson's gazelle in the Serengeti," I kept on listing.
"Smaller antelopes like the common duiker are frequent prey in the southern Kalahari, while larger ungulates are typically avoided, though nyala, whose males weigh around 120 kg, were found to be the major prey in a study in the Phinda Game Reserve," I say.
"Prey preferences and hunting success vary with the age, sex, and number of cheetahs involved in the hunt, and depending on the vigilance of the prey, generally only groups of cheetahs, coalitions, or mothers and cubs will try to kill larger prey, and mothers with cubs especially look out for larger prey and tend to be more successful than females without cubs," I say.
"Individuals on the periphery of the prey herd are common targets, and vigilant prey that would react quickly to seeing the cheetah are not preferred," I add.
"Cheetahs hunt primarily throughout the day, sometimes with peaks at dawn and dusk, and they tend to avoid larger predators like primarily nocturnal lions," I say.
"Cheetahs in the Sahara and here in Maasai Mara hunt after sunset to escape the high temperatures of the day, so this expounds why this one's resting as the sun is almost at its peak now," I say.
"Cheetahs use their vision to hunt instead of their sense of smell, and they keep a lookout for prey from resting sites or low branches," I continue. 
"The cheetah will stalk its prey, trying to conceal itself in cover, and approach as close as possible, often within 60 to 70 m of the prey or even farther for less alert prey," I say.
"Alternatively, the cheetah can lie hidden in cover and wait for the prey to come nearer, and a stalking cheetah assumes a partially crouched posture with the head lower than the shoulders, and it will move slowly and be still at times," I say. 
"In areas of minimal cover, the cheetah will approach within 200 m of the prey and start the chase, and the chase typically lasts a minute; in a 2013 study, the length of chases averaged 173 m, and the longest run measured 559 m," I continue.
"The cheetah can give up the chase if it is detected by the prey early or if it cannot make a kill quickly." 
"Cheetahs catch their prey by tripping it during the chase by hitting its rump with the forepaw or using the strong dewclaw to knock the prey off its balance, bringing it down with much force and sometimes even breaking some of its limbs," I say.