What is "cheetah"

Cheetah \Chee"tah\, n. [Hind. ch[=i]t[=a].] (Zo["o]l.) A species of leopard ( Cyn[ae]lurus jubatus) tamed and used for hunting in India. The woolly cheetah of South Africa is Cyn[ae]lurus laneus. It runs very fast in short spurts while hunting. [Written also chetah.]

1704, from Hindi chita "leopard," from Sanskrit chitraka "hunting leopard, tiger," literally "speckled," from chitra-s "distinctively marked, variegated, many-colored, bright, clear" (from PIE *kit-ro-, from root *(s)kai- (1) "bright, shining;" see shine (v.)) + kayah "body," from PIE *kwei- "to build, make" (see poet).

n. A distinctive member (''Acinonyx jubatus'') of the cat family, slightly smaller than the leopard, but with proportionately longer limbs and a smaller head; it is native to Africa and also credited with being the fastest terrestrial animal.

n. long-legged spotted cat of Africa and southwestern Asia having nonretractile claws; the swiftest mammal; can be trained to run down game [syn: chetah, Acinonyx jubatus]

The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), also known as the hunting leopard, is a big cat that occurs mainly in eastern and southern Africa and a few parts of Iran. The only extant member of the genus Acinonyx, the cheetah was first described by Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber in 1775. The cheetah is characterised by a slender body, deep chest, spotted coat, a small rounded head, black tear-like streaks on the face, long thin legs and a long spotted tail. Its lightly built, slender form is in sharp contrast with the robust build of the other big cats. The cheetah reaches nearly at the shoulder, and weighs . Though taller than the leopard, it is notably smaller than the lion. Basically yellowish tan or rufous to greyish white, the coat is uniformly covered with nearly 2,000 solid black spots.

Cheetah are active mainly during the day, with hunting its major activity. Adult males are sociable despite their territoriality, forming groups called "coalitions". Females are not territorial; they may be solitary or live with their offspring in home ranges. Carnivores, cheetah mainly prey upon antelopes and gazelles. They will stalk their prey to within , charge towards it and kill it by tripping it during the chase and biting its throat to suffocate it to death. The cheetah's body is specialised for speed; it is the fastest land animal. The speed of a hunting cheetah averages during a sprint; the chase is interspersed with a few short bursts of speed, when the animal can clock . Cheetahs are induced ovulators, breeding throughout the year. Gestation is nearly three months long, resulting in a litter of typically three to five cubs (the number can vary from one to eight). Weaning occurs at six months; siblings tend to stay together for some time. Cheetah cubs face higher mortality than most other mammals, especially in the Serengeti region. Cheetahs inhabit a variety of habitatsdry forests, scrub forests and savannahs.

Classified as vulnerable by the IUCN, the cheetah has suffered a substantial decline in its historic range due to rampant hunting in the 20th century. Several African countries have taken steps to improve the standards of cheetah conservation. Thanks to its prowess at hunting, the cheetah was tamed and used to kill game at hunts in the past. The animal has been widely depicted in art, literature, advertising and animation.

The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is the fastest of all land animals, and a member of the family Felidae.

Cheetah may also refer to:

• Miracinonyx, or American cheetah, a prehistoric genus of big cats

Cheetah is a 1989 live-action film from Walt Disney Pictures starring Keith Coogan and Lucy Deakins. This motion picture was based on Alan Caillou's novel The Cheetahs. It was shot in Nairobi, Kenya. This motion picture features the phrase " Hakuna matata" which became famous when Disney released The Lion King five years later.

Cheetah is a 1994 Hindi-language Indian action directed by Harmesh Malhotra, starring Mithun Chakraborty, Ashwini Bhave, Shikha Swaroop, Prem Chopra and Raza Murad.

Kim Eun-young (; born May 25, 1990), known by her stage name Cheetah , is a South Korean rapper. Cheetah rose to fame as the winner on the TV competition Unpretty Rapstar. She debuted in 2010 with the song "Stop (Money Can't Buy Me Love)" as a part of the duo Blacklist and is currently signed under C9 Entertainment.

Cheetah is an extended play by the British electronic musician Richard D James, released under the pseudonym Aphex Twin on 8 July 2016 on Warp. The name is a reference to Cheetah Marketing, a British manufacturer of microcomputer peripherals and electronic musical instruments in the 1980s (such as the MS800 namechecked in two of the EP's track titles).

The Cheetah is a fictional character appearing in DC Comics publications and related media, commonly as a major adversary of the super-hero Wonder Woman. She first appeared in 1943 in Wonder Woman #6 (volume 1), written by Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston. There have been four different incarnations of the Cheetah since the character's debut: Priscilla Rich (the Golden and Silver Age Cheetah), Deborah Domaine (the Bronze Age Cheetah), Barbara Ann Minerva (the Post- Crisis and current Cheetah), and Sebastian Ballesteros (a male usurper who briefly assumed the role in 2001). In 2009, the Cheetah was ranked as IGN's 69th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.

Cheetah were an Australian pop rock band active between 1976 and 1984.

The mainstay members and co-lead vocalists were English-born sisters, Chrissie and Lyndsay Hammond. They released a solo album, Rock & Roll Women, in April 1982. The band's single, "Walking in the Rain" (1978), peaked at No. 10 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart.

Cheetah toured Australia, the United Kingdom and continental Europe including appearances at Roskilde in Denmark, the Nuremberg and Wiesbaden Festivals in Germany and at the 1982 Reading Festival with Iron Maiden to an audience of 120,000 people. From 1982 they were based in the UK.

After disbanding in 1984, Chrissie provided vocals for Rick Wakeman while Lyndsay issued a solo album, The Raven (1997). Cheetah reformed in 2006 to perform in the Countdown Spectacular and a subsequent tour of Europe.

Australian musicologist Ian McFarlane opined that the sisters "were the archetypal 1970s sex bombs with big hair. They had tremendous, booming rock voices and were in constant demand as session vocalists."

Cheetah was a discotheque in Manhattan, New York City which opened May 28, 1966, and closed in the 1970s. The club was located at 53rd Street and Broadway. Robert Hilsky and Russell Hilsky were associated with the club.

According to Steven Watson's Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties, it "was the granddaddy of the big commercial disco".

The musical Hair was performed at Cheetah before becoming a major production on Broadway.

In addition, the Cheetah Club is widely cited as the birthplace of salsa music, or at least of the popular use of the term "salsa" to denote pan- Latin music brewing in New York City. On Thursday, August 26, 1971, the Fania All-Stars headlined the club and drew an overflowing and excited crowd that was later captured on film as Our Latin Thing. The Fania All-Stars brought together the leading lights in Latin music styles ( descarga, mambo, boogaloo, merengue, folkloric) and presented a single concert drawing from these diverse influences. Although the term "salsa" had been used in Latin music dating back to at least Pupi Legarreta's 1962 LP Salsa Nova, this modern combination of styles being presented at the Cheetah Club began to become popularly known under the umbrella term "salsa".

Cheetah is a wooden roller coaster by Custom Coasters International, located in the African Pridelands Section of the Wild Adventures theme park. The coaster was named after the Cheetah, the fastest land animal, because of its top speed reaching 65 mph when the coaster first opened, but after years of friction and track deformation the coaster was recorded in 2009 reaching a top speed of 52 miles per hour. It has a standard out and back layout with five bunny hops and a figure-eight ending. Built in 2001, Cheetah is the largest roller coaster at Wild Adventures. In Wild Adventures off season between 2009 and 2010, the Cheetah was given a $1.3 Million renovation by Martin & Vleminckx replacing the track on the figure-eight and smoothing out the rest of the track. The ride has one train, with six cars per train, and four riders each car in 2x2 seating.