Description
The cheetah is superficially similar to the leopard, but the leopard has rosettes instead of spots and lacks tear streaks. Moreover, the cheetah is slightly taller than the leopard. The serval resembles the cheetah in physical build, but is significantly smaller, has a shorter tail and its spots fuse to form stripes on the back. The cheetah appears to have evolved convergently with canids in morphology as well as behavior; it has canine-like features such as a relatively long snout, long legs, a deep chest, tough paw pads, and blunt, semi-retractable claws. The cheetah has often been likened to the greyhound, as both have similar morphology and the ability to reach tremendous speeds in a shorter time than other mammals, but the cheetah can attain higher maximum speeds.
Info source URL: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheetah
Photo capture date & Location: 2017-10 Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre