Check out Australia Zoo’s Cheetahs!

Be sure to keep your eyes peeled in Australia Zoo’s very own Africa, as you might be lucky enough to spot our majestic cheetahs!  You can visit these fast felines at the Cheetah Grasslands, our state-of-the-art habitat with 2.5 acres of open grassland and natural waterways.  Our cheetahs love the smells, sights and sounds that Australia Zoo has to offer.

These impressive carnivores are the fastest land animal on the planet!  They can reach speeds of up to 112 kilometres (70 miles) per hour in just three seconds. Crikey!  Enabling their impressive speed, are semi-retractable claws, slender legs, elongated spine and long tail for balance.

Cheetahs will hunt rabbits, gazelles, warthogs and birds.  They are perfectly adapted to hunt during daylight hours to avoid predation from lions, hyenas and leopards.  They have black ‘tear marks’ connecting their eyes and mouth, which are used as an anti-glare mechanism.  Cheetah are not classified as a ‘big cat’ due to their inability to roar!  Instead they have retained the ability to purr – just like your domestic cat at home.

Sadly, these gorgeous sub-Saharan Africans are a vulnerable species with as few as 7,000 individuals left in the wild.