New Creature-The Cheetah

[MurfinMS]

Hi gang,

Again, another animal I knew almost nothing about.

Best,

-Ken-

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Cheetah

The light-boned cheetah is one of the smaller species of big cat, with a small round head which seems too small for its body, mounted on a long neck. Its orange eyes have round pupils. The cheetah’s long, slender body has a deep chest and large lungs, which, combined with its large nasal passages, enables the cheetah to produce tremendous bursts of oxygen when running at speed. Its four long, slim legs are complex, with two sets of muscles; one set for walking, and the other for high-speed hunts. The pads on the cheetah’s feet

are ridged, and its wide forepaws, with non-retractable claws, help provide traction when maneuvering. The long, upward-sweeping tail helps the cheetah to maintain its balance when making abrupt turns.

Adult males are up to 2.15m long, stand .84m at the shoulders, and can reach weights in excess of 50 kg. Females are slightly smaller, up to 1.8m long, stand .73m at the shoulders, and can reach weights in excess of 40 kg. Cheetahs have a tail .66-.84m long.

The cheetah inhabits savannah, plains, grasslands and light woodlands, semi-deserts, forests and mountainous terrain up to 5,000m throughout Africa, the Middle East, Southern Asia and the Indian subcontinent.

Females stay with a male for a few days for mating. There is no set mating season. About 3 months after mating, a litter of up to 8 cubs (3 average) are born in seclusion. The mother moves the cubs to new hiding places every few days.

A mother cheetah must eat to feed her cubs milk, and so, may kill every day, during which the cubs are left in hiding, unprotected. Adults normally hunt every 2-5 days.

Cubs follow mother and eat from her kills at 6 weeks. At 6 months they begin learning to hunt; the mother bringing small game for them to chase and kill. Cubs go off on their own at a year.

Cheetahs hunt in early morning, evening, or at night. Finding a high position from which to observe prey, it stalks as close as possible, using cover---which may take from a few seconds to several hours—-until within 50m, at which point it is close enough to run down its prey.

The cheetah can accelerate from a standstill to Move 1D4+20 in 2 SR, which can be maintained for up to 5 melees. On switching to its full speed, it can Move 2D4+30, which can be maintained for up to 3 melees.

Overtaking its prey, the cat smashes into and knocks it to the ground, either by sinking its claws into the animal’s hindquarters, or tripping or knocking it off balance with a blow to the back legs with its paw. The cheetah then closes its jaw on the animal’s throat in an effort to suffocate it---

which takes 4-5 minutes---or tries to snap the prey’s neck.

The energy requirements for such a chase limits the cheetah to only a single sprint, and leaves it exhausted; requiring a ½ hour’s rest to recover. During which, it lacks the strength to defend its kill, and if another animal attempts to hijack it, the cheetah gives up and move off.

Cheetahs are sometimes trained as hunting beasts, and are taken, hooded and slung on horseback or loaded into a cage in the back of a cart, to a likely spot for coursing, or hunting by sight, rather than scent. The cat’s handler sights the game, removes the hood, and unleashes the cheetah. Like a falcon, the cheetah catches the game, and is rewarded with a share.

The cheetah's primary source of food includes various small species of antelope, birds and hares, as well as warthogs.. Cheetahs don’t drink water,; getting their moisture from the bodies of their prey

Statistics below are for male cheetahs. Females have

SIZ of 1D4+5.

Cheetah

Characteristics Average

STR 3D6+6 16-17 Move 23/ 35

CON 3D6 10-11 Hit Points 10

SIZ 1D6+5 8-9 Fatigue 28

INT 5 5

POW 2D6+6 13

DEX 3D6+6 16-17

_________________________________________________

Hit Location Melee (D20) Missile (D20) Points

RH Leg 01-02 01-02 2/ 3

LH Leg 03-04 03-04 2/ 3

Hind Q 05-07 05-09 2/ 5

Fore Q 08-10 10-14 2/ 4

RF Leg 11-13 15-16 2/ 3

LF Leg 14-16 17-18 2/ 3

Head 17-20 19-20 2/ 3

_________________________________________________

Weapon SR Attack% Damage

Paw 7 50+12 1D8+1D4

Throat bite 7 40+12 1D10+1D4

Notes: A cheetah attacks by slamming into prey and bowling it over, followed by a bite to the throat 3 SR later.

Skills: Climb 75+12, Hide 60-9, Sneak 70-9, Scan 70-1, Listen 50-1, Scent 50-1

Armor: 2-point fur.

[Trifletraxor]

Added! Thanks Ken! :cool:

SGL.

[FunGuyFromYuggoth]

First off, thank you for going to the effort of posting these stats. I just wanted to add my two cents b/c the cheetah is something I find to be a rather exceptional creature and thought it would be helpful to share this info with others here.

Cheetahs don’t drink water,; getting their moisture from the bodies of their prey

The second part is true, but they will take water if offered.

Notes: A cheetah attacks by slamming into prey and bowling it over, followed by a bite to the throat 3 SR later.

Actually, they are very light animals but they attack like other large cats though their prey tends to be smaller as you stated. You mentioned the trip attack earlier, but don't revisit it in your Notes. To sum it up, they run prey down, trip it (suggest Grapple equivalent to bite attack %) with an extended paw, then biting the downed animal on the underside of the throat to suffocate or sometimes bleed it out. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWDfNOOBWCY, time frame 1:05.

Also, I don't think the Paw attack you suggest is correct. Their claws are not used like other big cats. They lack the sheaths that other big cats have and they are typically duller from running. As a result, while they can climb trees (see here and remember that Wikipedia is only as good as its last edit). They are terrible climbers (certainly not 75%) compared to many big cats. As a suggestion, I'd ratchet the Climb down to something equivalent to what you'd guess for an equivalent sized, agile dog. Maybe 25% and only for relatively Easy to climb trees, but probably not too far off the ground.

Also, I know Wikipedia suggests that cheetahs were hooded and slung over a horse by Ancient Egyptians, but I have a hard time seeing a horse accepting an angry (albeit hooded), large cat trussed on its back. That cheetah would have to be drugged or otherwise bound tight and I doubt they made good hunters coming off a bumpy horseback ride. Caged seems like a likelier way of treating this enormous investment of time and money. (If you can afford a horse and a trained hunting cheetah in ancient times, you can afford a simple cart cage.)

The most notable thing about them is that they have a hard time defending their kills, so they try to gorge down as much as they can because the hyenas, the lions, the leopard, etc. are coming. It's not because they're tired--they just don't stack up well against larger predators and their disposition tends towards giving up a kill than risking injury or death.

Edited August 7, 2008 by FunGuyFromYuggoth

[MurfinMS]

FunGuy comments on my Cheetah stuff:

First off, thank you for going to the effort of posting these stats. I just wanted to add my two cents b/c the cheetah is something I find to be a rather exceptional creature and thought it would be helpful to share this info with others here.

By all means, brother

The second part is true, but they will take water if offered.

Actually, they are very light animals but they attack like other large cats though their prey tends to be smaller as you stated. You mentioned the trip attack earlier, but don't revisit it in your Notes. To sum it up, they run prey down, trip it (suggest Grapple equivalent to bite attack %) with an extended paw, then biting the downed animal on the underside of the throat to suffocate or sometimes bleed it out. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWDfNOOBWCY, time frame 1:05.

I didn't differentiate between the paw trip attack and the grapple hindquarters with claw attack, basically because I just plain *forgot* to That, and I figured the somewhat ill-defined "paw" would sercve for whatever the thing wanted to do with its paw/claw

The ashpyxiation time I sited was one culled in searching through a nukmber of different sources on the fabulous Internet, and I took it at face value. I think your notes would certianly clear up a few things.

Also, I don't think the Paw attack you suggest is correct. Their claws are not used like other big cats. They lack the sheaths that other big cats have and they are typically duller from running. As a result, while they can climb trees (see here and remember that Wikipedia is only as good as its last edit). They are terrible climbers (certainly not 75%) compared to many big cats. As a suggestion, I'd ratchet the Climb down to something equivalent to what you'd guess for an equivalent sized, agile dog. Maybe 25% and only for relatively Easy to climb trees, but probably not too far off the ground.

Right, their claws are short and not retractable like the big cats, so I can see where the grab the flanks and bite seems more like big cat behavior, but I *have* seen a cheetah do such at some point on Animal Planet.

I have *also* seen footage (again, at some point on Animal Planet) of a cheetah *climb* pretty well pretty high up a tree with the wilting/ dead prey firmly grasped by the throat. I'm unsure just what % to make the thing's Climb skill, but I think the thing climbed a lot more like one would expect a cat to, than a large dog probably could

Also, I know Wikipedia suggests that cheetahs were hooded and slung over a horse by Ancient Egyptians, but I have a hard time seeing a horse accepting an angry (albeit hooded), large cat trussed on its back. That cheetah would have to be drugged or otherwise bound tight and I doubt they made good hunters coming off a bumpy horseback ride. Caged seems like a likelier way of treating this enormous investment of time and money. (If you can afford a horse and a trained hunting cheetah in ancient times, you can afford a simple cart cage.)

Oh sure, I agree with you 100% on slinging a furry predator over a saddlehorn or whatever; exceedingly unlikely, but I found several references to hunting with the things, and dropped it in for color. Certianly a wagon would be a lot more reasonable (especially after seeing "Hidalgo", where hunting cats (maybe leopards, but *still*) were released from a cage to hunt down prey

The most notable thing about them is that they have a hard time defending their kills, so they try to gorge down as much as they can because the hyenas, the lions, the leopard, etc. are coming. It's not because they're tired--they just don't stack up well against larger predators and their disposition tends towards giving up a kill than risking injury or death.

The show I've seen on them mentions the scavengers, but implied that the cheetah couldn't stand up to them because it was exhausted from the chase & catch, but taking a chance on having to fight larger creatures sense now that its mentioned

Maybe someone (not *me*, in any case) feels like modifying the entry for the cheetah appropriately?

Best.

-Ken-

Edited August 8, 2008 by Trifletraxor

[MurfinMS]

Hmmm,

Looks like I'm not too handy with the quoting mechanism.

Got my and FunGuy;s texts kinda mixed.

Oh drat!

-Ken-

[Trifletraxor]

Hmmm,

Looks like I'm not too handy with the quoting mechanism.

Got my and FunGuy;s texts kinda mixed.

Oh drat!

-Ken-

You gotta put quote tags [noparse]

bulk of text to be quoted

[/noparse] around each bulk of text that you comment.

Maybe someone (not *me*, in any case) feels like modifying the entry for the cheetah appropriately?

Best.

-Ken-

Someone just have. :thumb:

SGL.