In my 9th grade biology class we are learning about biomes and ecosystems. For my blog post today I am going to be choosing an animal that I’ll be using for the rest of the year to research and go more in depth about it’s environment.
The animal that I chose is a cheetah, it’s scientific name is Acinonyx Jubatus. The reason as to why I chose a cheetah is because it has been my favorite animal since I was little and I think it’ll be nice to know more about them, other than the fact that they’re the fastest land animals.
On Friday we learned about the energy flow in various organisms and types of consumers. There are 5 different types of consumers: Herbivores, Carnivores, Omnivores, Scavengers, Detritivores. Some of these categories have animals that are either Autotrophs or Heterotrophs, which is when you are either a primary producer or a secondary consumer. One new thing I learned from this lesson is that a Detritivore feeds on decomposing matter, breaking it down to organic matter that goes back to the soil. An example of a detritivore is a mushroom. I found it interesting that there’s a category of consumers that’s about feeding off of decomposing matter.
In Todays lesson we learned about terrestrial and aquatic biomes. There are about 9 different types or terrestrial biomes and about 3 different types of aquatics ecosystems. The way that they’re separated is by the climate and it’s environment. A new thing I learned is that there are symbolic relationships between different organisms, for example: mutualism, parasitism and commensalism. There is always a habitat that shares a symbiotic relationship with different species.
There are two different kinds of animals that are either autotrophs or heterotrophs. An autotroph is when the animal able to make their own food, therefore being a producer. A heterotroph is when the animal feeds on other animals, therefore being a consumer. A cheetah is a heterotrophs, they consume producers or other consumers such a antelopes and gazelles. Cheetahs are a herbivore consumer, they consume herbivores and secondary consumers such as; impala, wildebeests and gazelles.
All of these animals, including cheetahs, live in a grassland type habitat. Cheetahs prefer to live in open plains, but they can live in a different variety of habitats. There are bushy areas, open grasslands, medium length grass, trees and small hills, which is located in Africa and the Middle East.
Cheetahs prefer to live in a climate that’s dry and low humidity, they live at altitudes above sea level and occupy vegetated mountains. The average temperature is 86 F and 104 F during the summer and the precipitation is 3 inches (76 millimeters) per year. Cheetahs are found in Africa, south of the Sahara desert and in Central and Eastern Asia.
- The Biome of the cheetah. Growl Power. (n.d.). https://growlpowecheetah.weebly.com/the-biome-of-the-cheetah.html.
- Cheetah World! prezi.com. (n.d.). https://prezi.com/yvisqkstwi7n/cheetah-world/.
- Habitat and Distribution. SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment. (n.d.). https://seaworld.org/animals/all-about/cheetah/habitat/.
- What temperature do cheetahs live in? What temperature do cheetahs live in? | EveryThingWhat.com. (n.d.). https://everythingwhat.com/what-temperature-do-cheetahs-live-in.
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