TIL that Cheetahs are the only one of the big cats that cannot roar!

That's right. Cheetah's cannot roar. They make a chirping sound that almost sounds like a bird... and it can be heard for up to a mile away. If you heard that sound out in the wild, you would probably never guess that it came from a Cheetah:

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I didn't know that Cheetah's were part Seagull! ;)

Why can't they roar?

Lions, Tigers, Leopards, and Jaguars all can roar. So, why can't a Cheetah?

The roaring sound that other big cats make is made possible because of a special two piece hyoid bone located in the throat.

The hyoid bone defined:

"also known as the tongue bone, the hyoid bone is a horseshoe-shaped bone situated in the anterior mid-line of the neck between the chin and the thyroid cartilage. At rest, it lies at the level of the base of the mandible in the front and the third cervical vertebra behind."

Cheetah's do not have this two piece bone. Instead they have a single piece hyoid bone similar to that of a house cat.

Another interesting trait possessed by Cheetah's is the peculiar fact that they cannot retract their claws. All of the other big cats have fully retractable claws, but the Cheetah does not. Keep that in mind the next time you go to shake hands with one ;)

Some other interesting tidbits about Cheetahs:

They drink very little water, in fact they only need one drink every 3 to 4 days. That comes in handy when roaming around in the Sahara Desert.
They are blessed with incredible speed. The fastest one being clocked at 64 miles per hour.
Cheetahs only make a kill about half the times they attempt one. A cheetah is not a perfect hunter and often misses its prey when trying to bring it down.
A cheetah expends a lot of energy when hunting, and since it is only successful about half the time, the missed kills are especially exhausting.
Cheetah's tend to live and hunt in groups, which helps with their survival.
Cheetah populations have declined significantly over the last 100 years. In the early 1900's there were over 100,000 Cheetahs worldwide, now there are roughly only 10,000 remaining on the planet today.

So, it sounds like Cheetah's are the big losers in comparison to other big cats, but that is not necessarily the case as there is no other land animal that can run as fast as they can. Remember, if you can't solve your problem by overpowering it, there is no shame in running away from it! ;)

Live well my friends!

Sources:

http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/stories/surprising-facts-about-our-favorite-big-cat-species

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyoid_bone

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheetah

Image Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheetah

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyoid_bone

and www.youtube.com

Follow: @jrcornel