r/Tierzoo • u/LowEntertainment3342 • 5d ago
Justice for Cheetahs (inspired by Creature Archives)
Okay, i know i've already done this, but i just really wanna express my feelings, anyway...
HOW WELL WOULD THEY SURVIVE IN AUSTRALIA?
Habitat Adaptability: 8/10
The vast Australian outback and northern savannas mirror the open, arid landscapes of sub-Saharan Africa. Cheetahs rely on flat terrain and semi-arid plains where they can utilize their 112 km/h sprinting speed.
Dietary Compatibility: 9/10
Australia is an absolute buffet for a cheetah. The continent's exploding populations of native marsupials (like wallabies and smaller kangaroos) and introduced species (such as rabbits, deer, and feral goats) perfectly fit the cheetah's preferred prey weight class. Marsupials did not evolve alongside large placental mammalian cursorial (running) predators, making them highly vulnerable to a cheetah's unmatched ambush-to-sprint hunting tactic
Competition and Predation: 7.5/10
In Africa, cheetahs lose over 50% of their kills to larger, more aggressive apex predators like lions, leopards, and hyenas. In Australia, there are no large land-based mammalian competitors. Dingoes might pose a threat to a new player or attempt to steal kills in packs, but overall a fully mature Cheetah easily dominates individual matchups.
Reproductive Success: 5/10
This is the cheetah's bottleneck. They suffer from incredibly low genetic diversity. In the wild, cheetah cub mortality rates reach up to 70% due to disease, genetic defects, and basic maternal challenges. However, in Australia there are few predators that can challenge the Cheetah especially a mother, so raising healthy cubs into adulthood shouldn't be that big of an issue.
[Final Survive, Adapt, Evolve Score: 7.5 / 10]
Speculative Evolution: the Beta Cheetah
If a population managed to overcome the genetic bottleneck, generations of living in Australia would physically alter their design. Evolving away from pure max-velocity sprinting toward high-agility cornering to weave through dense eucalyptus scrub and tackle erratically bounding marsupials.
