Cheetah and leopard

[victor]

when we see the difference between cheetah and leopard. It seems different only on their fur. But actually there are many differences between those two. What I wanna ask is..the body of those two seems the same, but why only cheetah that have the most speedy run and why only leopard that can climb the trees? is there any difference on their feet morphology?

[MrMistery]

Yes. through the process of speciation, the cheetah "decided" to develop powerful muscles to be able to catch antilopes and the leopard "decided" to develop the ability to climb trees. Although i do not know what th exact adaptation are, what i can tell you is that they exist for sure and that they are the ways each species has managed to remain alive

[mith]

In other words, resource partitioning, if both competed for the same resource, both or one would die out.

[MrMistery]

That is a case. The next is what actually happened: they each went their separate ways

[victor]

Um, by the way..............can we mate them?

[Ange]

The cheetah is truly built for speed! Virtually every part of its body is adapted in some way to maximize running speed. Special paw pads and non-retractable claws provide great traction. Large nostrils and lungs provide quick air intake; a large liver, heart and adrenals also facilitate a rapid physical response. A long, fluid, greyhound-like body is streamlined over light bones. Small collarbones and vertical shoulder blades help lengthen the stride. The tail acts as a rudder for quick turning plus the eye's retinal fovea is of an elongated shape, giving the cheetah a sharp, wide-angle view of its surroundings. The dark tear marks beneath each eye may also enhance its visual acuity by minimizing the sun's glare. The spine works as a spring for the powerful back legs to give the cheetah added reach for each step. But the great speed is very taxing physiologically. The top speed, 71 miles per hour (114 kilometers per hour), can usually be maintained for only 200-300 yards. (274 meters).

[Ange]

Hm.... mating.... theres a high possibility that we can mate them (like tigons and ligers) but there's a bigger chance that the "son" will be sterile not fertile.

[Inuyasha]

try this, a cheetah is in it's own genus. Cheetahs do not belong to the big cats. Solid snake had a good discussion of cheetahs back long ago. It's still on this forum.

[MrMistery]

Cheetahs do not belong to the big cats.

Thanks for the update Inuyasha. I never knew that

[victor]

Yup, I can consider about that too since cheetah doesn't do "ROAR" like most of the big cats do. And by the way Ange, your explanation about cheetah's morphology is great..I am gonna save it in my disk...thanks