旅遊南非洲 (三): 獵豹 / Travel to South Africa (3): Cheetah

I took this photo at a national park in South Africa. The cheetah was lurking behind the fence eyeing the tourists (especially the little girl next to me) when all of a sudden it charged !!! In less than a second, the cat was lunging at the fence that separated the girl and its jaws. Everyone was shocked by the cheetah's speed and ferocity and the poor child was just screaming. Later the local guide told us: Big cats all have an instinct to kill the young and weak. Death by a cheetah is excruciating. A human does not have a long neck like other preys, so the cat doesn't know what to do and will just bite at the head and claw the body open, as opposed to puncturing the neck artery and bleeding the prey to death. In the veld, it is eat, or be eaten. (You get the picture)

Reference:

* Wikipedia "Cheetah 獵豹" http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E7%8C%8E%E8%B1%B9
"...獵豹主要分佈在非洲與西亞..是陸上奔跑最快的動物，全速奔馳的獵豹，時速可以超過110公里，相當於百米世界冠軍的三倍快。 ..它可以在3步之內，從靜止加速到時速65公里，幾秒鐘就會達到全速110公里。..接近全速時，獵豹每秒鐘大約跑3步，這時它的呼吸頻率從平時約每分鐘65次竄升到150次。..."
(Haricot: It usually takes me 10 minutes to raise my heartbeat from abt 40-50 to 150 bpm. I am lunch !!!!)