Today we"re in Kenya"s Masai Mara National Reserve to celebrate Wildlife Conservation Day, which also happens to be International Cheetah Day—two reasons to extend our appreciation for this elegant mother and cub. These lithe and lightweight cats are built for speed, with compact heads, thin torsos, and long legs that help them accelerate up to 70 mph when hunting gazelles or antelopes on the savannah. Because cheetahs have uniquely flexible spines, they"re able to make sharp, sudden turns, even during a high-speed chase. Individual cheetahs tend to avoid one another, but a cub like this one will stay with its mother for about 18 months, and a female cub may stick with mom into adulthood. Some males are territorial and will form small groups, called coalitions, to defend a prized area.
Cheetah mother and cub
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
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World Olive Tree Day
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A different view of sharks
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Daylight saving time begins
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Let the harvest begin
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Gazing upon Portraits of Change
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Arches National Park, Utah
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A sea of swirling stone
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AAPI Heritage Month & Lei Day
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Polar bears
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Up on the glacier
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Celebrating Chile’s Independence Day
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Blue linckia sea stars in Papua New Guinea
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Ayutthaya Historical Park, Thailand
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Flower of Life symbol drawn in snow
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Venice Skatepark, Los Angeles, California
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Chapel of St. Michel on Lake Serre-Ponçon, Hautes-Alpes, France
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Baltic Sea, Estonia
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Native American Heritage Month
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Paris is photo-ready this week
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March of the flowers
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A seabird gets schooled
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Porto Timoni beach, Greece
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By the light of the fireflies
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National Aviation Day
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Gardens by the Bay nature park, Singapore
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Till the cows come home
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The dry days of winter in Etosha
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Happy Presidents Day
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Lençóis Maranhenses National Park in Brazil
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Kissing Day