International Cheetah Day

December 4 is International Cheetah Day, and this is another reason to remember how many beautiful animals nature has created in the process of evolution and how important it is for humans to protect them from extinction Each species is truly unique and unrepeatable, and to be fair, every living thing on the planet deserves to have its own Day However, in the case of cheetahs, the situation is complicated by the fact that this is a vulnerable species, and the total number of individuals on the planet reaches only 7,000 This is not much and allows scientists to state that this species may well move from the category of vulnerable to endangered in the near future Yes, as in many other cases, the culprit is human activity Of course, the innate habits of the cheetahs themselves also play a role There are some representatives of the fauna that get along too poorly with humans Thus, being located in close proximity to agricultural land has a negative impact on cheetahs And even if such a neighborhood does not pose a direct danger, animals prefer to go into wild places In addition, cheetahs are loners in life They do not live in packs like lions, which means they are vulnerable It was this and other circumstances that prompted ecologists, zoologists, and representatives of international organizations to establish a special Day, which was created in order to popularize science and attract public attention to the problem of interaction between humans and wildlife Cheetahs are amazing, because in a few seconds they are able to accelerate to a fantastic speed, comparable to the speed of a car It is believed that they are quite capable of accelerating to 110 km/h, while they do not lose control over what is happening and easily maneuver, turn around, and avoid obstacles And the special body structure and long tail help in this, allowing them to maintain balance during the race If you look at slow-motion footage of a cheetah rushing in pursuit of an antelope, no less adapted to life in the savannah, you can see that the predator’s paws barely touch the ground, and its tail moves from side to side, allowing it to balance, changing directions in the race for prey Moreover, these predators have captivated people with their superior grace, dexterity and ingenuity If necessary, they easily climb to the tops of trees in order to peer into the distance with amazing patience, looking for prey and assessing the distance to it with a trained eye Even if the silhouette of an antelope appears on the horizon in the very depths of the savannah, such an impressive distance will not stop the cheetah He instantly descends from the tree and quickly covers an impressive distance to get closer to the prey grazing over the horizon Unfortunately, the grace, beauty, and also the too independent nature of predators played a cruel joke on them It is on December 4 that it is customary to raise not very pleasant questions regarding human interaction with the environment It is known that poaching of cheetahs is rampant, and some rich people deliberately come to Africa to hunt this noble beast In other cases, poachers deliver newborn puppies to wealthy customers as exotic pets, although cheetahs do not adapt well to living conditions in captivity They are too freedom-loving to enter into an alliance with a person On December 4, environmental organizations hold events designed to draw public attention to the need to control deforestation so as not to disturb the fragile natural balance This day is becoming increasingly popular, partly due to the fact that celebrities, including Hollywood stars, are actively drawing attention to the problem of the disappearance of cheetahs