Cheetah Pictures

Hi all. This is all about cheetahs, the fastest land mammal! Our goal is for people to post their experiences, pictures, stories, sites, favorite ideas and thoughts about cheetahs. To start it all off, I would like to let everyone know of a great site I came across. Cheetah Pictures has brilliant free cheetah pictures available for web use! So if you are creating a blog or website, and you need some cheetah pictures, you should definitely have a look. Please let us know of any other good sites that you come across.



So why cheetahs? What makes cheetahs so interesting? Well firstly, there is some mysterious attribute about them. They are the most amazing animals to watch. They appear to be a ferocious cat, but are they? So is it a cat or dog or neither? I have never found an answer to this, except that they are part of their own family tree, so I suppose that makes them neither.

Personally, cheetahs fascinate me as they create this impression of being ferocious cats, yet incredibly gentle. There is some awe about cheetahs that is beyond words. They are gentle, sleek, and extremely nimble. Still, any animal that survives in the wild is anything but fragile and gentle! The thought that this animal is classified as the fastest land mammal is incredible. They say it reaches speeds of about 100km/hr! That is ridiculous! What they don’t mention is how agile they are at this speed. They can take the most amazing bends and angles while at this speed. This is often forgotten. Next time you have the chance (don’t really!), take your car to 100km/hr and try a hand brake turn...chances are you will not pull it off. Yet a cheetah does this effortlessly and even with a much tighter turning circle! It’s a complete feat of nature. Have you ever wondered how the photographers ever take pictures of this? It is so rare to see a cheetah running, and then to take a pictures of this? I have my doubts about whether most of these pictures are taken in the wild. I personally think that the pictures of cheetah running are taken in captivity. I do think that some running cheetah pictures are probably taken in the wild. Respect for those photographers!

If you are taking cheetah pictures you will need a telephoto lens. To ensure that the pictures are sharp, you will need to place the camera on a rest or tripod, and ensure that your shutter speed is sufficient. Or if you want to cheat taking cheetah pictures, take the pictures of a cheetah running in captivity, then on Photoshop blur the background of the pictures….hey…you wouldn’t do that right? That’s how a lot of these incredible cheetah pictures are taken! I have never taken any cheetah pictures like this!

Here’s a little cheetah experience that I had a few years ago. I was at one of the worlds leading cheetah rehabilitation and study centers when this happened. When they are rehabilitating a cheetah to be released into the wild, they first keep the cheetah in a fenced off enclosure. In this instance, they were King Cheetah (as told by their slightly larger build and larger spots). There was this little girl walking along the fence and this male cheetah paced up and down next to her. Wherever she went, it went. It watched her closely. It was only the young girl that it followed, otherwise it would lie down. When I asked the experts about this, they said that it was because she was small and a perfect size to eat. This cheetah, although it looked friendly, was sizing this young girl up for a meal! Amazing! Lucky for her there was a solid fence! Anyways, I found that a really interesting experience.

I have included this little rant about some cheetah experiences although there have been many others. I would love to hear some of your stories and interesting thoughts. Also, if you have any good cheetah pictures let me know. I hope you found this interesting. We are trying to put together a comprehensive cheetah blog post, so if you have anything, please let us know. Also, please add this to one of your social bookmarks! That would be most appreciated!