The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) dewclaw: specialization overlooked Tiziano Londei Dipartimento di Biologia, Universita` degli Studi, Via Celoria 26, 20133 Milan, Italy INTRODUCTION The cheetah Acinonyx jubatus is an atypical felid, well known for having blunt, only slightly curved, and only partly retractile claws, clearly an adaptation for high- A cheetah is built like a racing dog, with a small head and long legs and body, but the teeth and jaws are too small and weak to deliver an effective death bite, so the cheetah is forced to suffocate its prey. The cheetah Acinonyx jubatus is an atypical felid, well known for having blunt, only slightly curved, and only partly retractile claws, clearly an adaptation for high-speed locomotion in the pursuit of swift mammals. The dew claw, KO-066, a vestigial elevated first toe used to trip fleeing prey, inspired the cheetah's scientific name Acinonyx - from the Greek words for thorn, akaina, and claw. Learn the answers to these questions and … I have seen cheetah take down very large prey and sometime single mother cheetah do this and are unable to keep the prey down because the outweighs them. Each Bone Clones® replica claw and talon, produced to our exacting standards, captures the textural detail and matches the subtle coloration of the originals. A dewclaw is a digit – vestigial in some animals – on the foot of many mammals, birds, and reptiles (including some extinct orders, like certain theropods).It commonly grows higher on the leg than the rest of the foot, such that in digitigrade or unguligrade species it does not make contact with the ground when the animal is standing. The latch on with their dew claw and pull their body weight to the side during the time their prey's hind legs are off the ground. What is the dewclaw on a dog? The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) dewclaw: specialization overlooked Tiziano Londei Dipartimento di Biologia, Universita` degli Studi, Via Celoria 26, 20133 Milan, Italy INTRODUCTION The cheetah Acinonyx jubatus is an atypical felid, well known for having blunt, only slightly curved, and only partly retractile claws, clearly an adaptation for high- Does it have a purpose, or should it be removed to prevent later problems or injuries? The cheetah has “semi non-retractable” claws (almost like dog claws) that work like the cleats on a football shoe to give the cheetah a lot of traction when running. Famous for being the fastest land animal, their speed has been estimated at about 95 km per hour for a brief period. The chase is fast and takes many turns until the cheetah uses an enlarged dew claw to hook the hind leg of the prey or smack its flanks to either knock it off balance or damage its Achilles tendon. The pads of most cats' paws are soft, but the cheetah's pads are hard kind of like the rubber on a tire. A cheetah depends entirely on speed when hunting; knocking over the running animal by hooking a leg under the animal using its sharp dew claw, or by knocking the animal over. Cheetahs can reach a speed approaching 70 mph(+110 kph); however this speed can be maintained for only a few hundred yards or for about one minute. The dew-claws, however, which are used to grasp the prey, are curved and sharp. The Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus, with its strange mixture of dog like and cat like features, is one of the world’s most popular cats.