Endangered: THE CHEETAH - Fastest Land Animal

Program Length
Two class periods. One period to view selected Ngorongoro video clips, introduce cheetahs and talk about big cats in general. One class period to stage The Cheetah Chase Challenge a mathematical predator vs. prey race.

Presentation cost: $ 200.00

 Purpose

1. Students learn the scientific classification for cats, family Felidae within the order Carnivora, meaning meat-eating mammals.
2. Students learn general cat physical attributes and hunting behavior.
3. Students learn how the cheetah's physiology differs from the other big cats.
4. Students learn how the cheetah's body is adapted for running fast.
5. Students learn about the cheetah's hunting behavior and style of killing prey.
6. Students learn about interactions within cheetah society.
7. Students learn why cheetahs are threatened with extinction.
8. Students learn about cheetah conservation efforts.
9. Students participate in The Cheetah Chase Challenge, a predator vs. prey race.
10. Students use a mathematical formula to solve for the number of strides and in how many seconds it takes for a cheetah to reach its prey.
11. Students write in their journals about their Cheetah Chase Challenge experience.
12. Students participate in a party for the King Cheetah (optional).

Materials

1. Several tape measures that measure in meter increments preferably (Commonly found at hardware stores.)
2. Quarters or half-dollar coins for half of the class
3. Placement markers for half of the class
4. School field or other large grassy area
5. Pens/Pencils
6. Composition journals

Procedure (Day One)

1. Divide your students into groups of four.
2. Tell all groups to brainstorm what they know about cheetahs and cats in general, and to record their responses.
3. Have a spokesperson from each group tell the class the results of their group's brainstorming session.
4. Write their responses on the board. You may want to organize their responses into categories depending upon the variety and number of responses that you receive.
5. Show the video clips on cheetahs:Using their brainstorming responses and the video clips as springboards, tell your students to take notes in their journals as you fill in the knowledge gaps by presenting more background on cheetahs and big cats in general. (For minimum assessment purposes your students should record in their journals four or more body adaptations that enable the cheetah to run so fast and two or more facts about cheetah society.)
6. End presentation with an announcement about tomorrow's activity, The Cheetah Chase Challenge.
7. Remind students to wear their running shoes to class tomorrow.

Procedure (Day Two) 

1. Group students into pairs; select one student to be a cheetah and the other to be a gazelle or other type of prey.
2. Distribute distance wheels, placement markers, and coins to all gazelles...students.
3. Tell the gazelles to put some distance between them and the cheetahs; making sure that they use the distance wheel to accurately measure their distance and record the number in their journals.
4. Tell the cheetahs to rest and save their energy because they're going to need it.
5. Tell each gazelle to shout out their number to their assigned cheetah. The Cheetah Chase Challenge has begun!
6. Using the formula below each gazelle and cheetah pair must quickly solve for how many strides and in how many seconds it would take for the cheetah to reach the gazelle.
   Then divide the number of strides by 4 (The number of strides that a cheetah makes per second.) = how many seconds it would take for the cheetah to reach its gazelle partner.
7. After each cheetah figures out the answer he or she should run as fast they can to their gazelle, who be using their watch to time how long it takes for the "human" cheetah to reach them.
8. Once the cheetah reaches the gazelle, a coin is tossed into the air by the gazelle to determine if he or she was caught by the cheetah. Cheetahs are only 50 percent successful in catching their prey. So, if the coin lands heads up then the prey loses its head. If the coin lands tails up, then the prey "high tails" it away from the cheetah.
9. The Cheetah Chase Challenge continues until there is only one successful cheetah left.
10. The successful cheetah would then be honored as the king cheetah at a classroom party to immediately follow the activity (optional).

Extension Activities 
For Younger Students
The cheetah has numerous body adaptations that enable it to run so quickly after prey. Yet, what about the cheetah's prey? How has its body adapted to flee from the cheetah? Research some of the more common cheetah prey and find out what body adaptations and or behavioral strategies it uses to flee or avoid an attacking cheetah.

For Older Students
Like other big cats, the cheetah population is dwindling. What is being done to save the cheetah? Research cheetah conservation efforts and strategies throughout the world. How successful have those cheetah conservation efforts and strategies been? Do you have new cheetah conservation suggestions?

The illegal market for cheetah and other big cat pelts and other body parts further threatens cheetahs and other big cats with extinction. Research why this illegal market persists and brainstorm new strategies to save cheetahs and other big cats from poachers.

 
Assessment Recommendations

1. Evaluate your students on their level of participation during the activity.
2. Evaluate the writing and content of your students' journal entries for this lesson and activity. Pay special attention to their cheetah stride and time calculations.

Background Reading: cheetah background.doc

Related National Standards 
This lesson addresses the following national content standards found at http://www.mcrel.org:

Mathematics
Understands and applies basic and advanced properties of the concepts of measurement.
Understands the basin concept of rate as measure (e.g., miles per hour).
Solves problems involving units of measurement can converts answers to a larger or smaller unit within the same system (i.e., standard or metric).
Understands formulas for finding measures (e.g., area, volume, and surface area).
Understands the general nature and uses of mathematics.

Science
Understands the diversity and unity that characterize life.
Knows that animals and plants have a great variety of body plans and internal structures that serve specific functions for survival (e.g., digestive structures in vertebrates, invertebrates, unicellular organisms, and plants).
Understands the basic concept of evolution of a species.
Knows basic ideas related to biological evolution (e.g., diversity of species is developed through gradual processes over many generations; biological adaptations, such as changes in structure, behavior, or physiology, allow some species to enhance their reproductive success for survival in a particular environment).
Understands the conception of extinction and its importance in biological evolution (e.g., when the environment changes, the adaptive characteristics of some species are insufficient to allow their survival; extinction is common; most of the species that have lived on Earth no longer exist).

and the following national science content standards found at http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/nses/html/:

Develop an understanding of structure and function in living systems.
Develop an understanding of regulation and behavior.
Develop an understanding of populations and ecosystems.
Develop an understanding of diversity and adaptations of organisms.

Bartolomeo Misana, the youngest of twelve children in the family, was born in Tanzania. He was the only child in the family to go to college. He interrupted his studies to work so he could build his aging parents a house with a metal roof.  In one year he saved enough money to build a new house for his parents after which he resumed his studies to the priesthood. Misana served for twelve years as a Catholic priest in his country. Feeling he was not giving back enough to his community and country, he went on to work directly in community economic development as an employee of Catholic Relief Services. After twelve years in direct community work, he joined Southern New Hampshire University for a graduate degree in Community Economic Development (CED). He is currently employed by the Ashburn Institute, a nonprofit organization in Washington D.C. as Director of Community Economic Development Programs and Global Education Motivators.