Everyone knows what a cheetah is.
We learn about them when we're young, around the same time we learn what lions, elephants, giraffes and other animals are, and we grow up with a kind of familiarity towards them.
Apart from zoos, many people will never see one of the creatures in real life, and so even though we know what they are we maintain a kind of detachment from them in our day-to-day existence.
Because of this there are a number of intriguing things about this particular species of cat that a lot of people are simply unaware of.
I myself didn't learn most of the things I'm about to write in this article until about a month or so again.
Clones Believe it or not, geneticists have determined that all cheetahs are virtually genetic copies of one another, and are considered to be as identical as cloned lab mice.
Sounds a little far-fetched, doesn't it? 100% true, though, and you're welcome to browse some of the reputable internet-based scientific journals that back that statement up.
There is almost no diversity among the cheetah population whatsoever, and the species has suffered badly from the inbreeding which is a result of this.
Modern cheetahs commonly display genetic and birth defects--curled tails, bent limbs and cramped teeth--as a result of this, in addition to poor sperm production in males.
In fact, sexually mature male cheetahs produce up to 90% less sperm than other species of big cat, with as much as 75% of what they do produce being in some way abnormal.
If cheetahs were livestock, they would be considered infertile.
A Mix Between Dogs and Cats Though they look like big cats and are classified as them, cheetahs actually display a remarkable combination of both distinctly feline and canine characteristics.
The tan hair that covers the body is canine, while the black spots are typical cat hair.
Their paws have the hard pads of dog feet in order to withstand the tremendous speeds at which they run (up to 75mph) and the claws do not retract, which is also like a dog and distinctly "un-catlike.
" Another interesting physical feature, though not necessarily canine, is their elongated spine which is what enables them to hyperextend their stride to achieve such dramatic speeds.
One of the Earliest Domesticated Animals Oddly enough, they never tell you in elementary school that ancient civilizations were widely known to have domesticated cheetahs as pets and also trained them for use in hunting.
This practice is believed to have originated in ancient Egypt, which is fitting; the Egyptians are credited with some of the most remarkable, monumental and more often than not inexplicable achievements and discoveries of their era (of any era, in all honesty), so why shouldn't they be the first to tame cheetahs? When you combine these three interesting facts (and they are undisputable, unequivocably fact) about cheetahs--1) the fact that cheetahs possess almost "cut and paste" physical characteristics of two totally separate species; 2) the fact that cheetahs display what is either a hugely aberrant evolutionary history, as most people accept, or more likely an obvious "smoking gun" pointing directly towards some kind of genetic tampering; 3) and that the one culture most renowned for its inexplicable and advanced technology also benefitted directly and strongly from these two bizarre qualities--it's impossible not to begin questioning the things we're being told, or at least wondering how discrepancies this profound are so casually written off.
It is past time for us to begin examining the mounting evidence of inexplicable feats and phenomenon worldwide, both modern and historical, that do not conform to the view of reality that modern science has established, and begin restructuring the way we view the world so that they do.
What is the cheetah, and what are the explinations for its extraordinary genetic attributes? Why does contemporary mainstream science brush this off so readily? Who are we really, and where did we come from?