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Feb 15th, 2016: Making Cheetahs
Addison, a Cheetah at San Diego Zoo Global’s off-exhibit Cheetah Breeding Center, pleased the zooers... zooies... zooists... keepers,
when she dropped four kits with her first litter. They all praised her but she said, Meh, hold my beer and watch this.
She then at eight years old, dropped her second litter of six little furballs. The record is eight.
| The keepers work closely with the adult cheetahs, but as Jillian explains, “this is the first litter we have tried to socialize. It’s challenging with six—they play off of each other and are very active.” In order to work with the cubs, Addison is moved to an adjacent pen where she can see what’s going on. “She seems to be quite comfortable with us interacting with the cubs,” says Jillian. “She’s a very calm cheetah by nature, and since this isn’t her first litter, we had a relationship established with her. But we always watch her reaction and base what we do on Addison’s comfort level.” |
Besides, they were in good hands, in the wild 90% of the cubs don't make three months, 50% to predators and 40% to lack of genetic diversity, because....
| Cheetahs are found in Africa and a small portion of Iran. It’s estimated that the worldwide population of cheetahs has dwindled from 100,000 in 1900 to only 10,000 today—with about 10 percent of those cats living in zoos or wildlife parks. They are classified as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List. |
See what I mean. "Please take them for socializing... pretty please... with honey on it?"
| San Diego Zoo Global, which has been breeding cheetahs for more than 40 years and has had more than 135 cubs, was instrumental in the formation of a Breeding Center Coalition (BCC) to create a sustainable cheetah population that will prevent extinction of the world’s fastest land animal. There are eight other organizations participating in the breeding program for this endangered species: Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Glen Rose, Texas; White Oak Conservation Center in Yulee, Florida; The Wilds and the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio; the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia; the St. Louis Zoo; the Wildlife Safari in Oregon; and Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo in Nebraska. |
link
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Aside - I finished this post an hour and a half ago, but every time I clicked on the link button, the sumbitch would freeze.
After diddling it a little, it would give me a can't open this page screen. So I'd back up and try again, until it closed this page,
then each of the other two pages I had open. Then I lost my internet connection completely, and had to call Verizon to get
the router they installed yesterday morning working again.
And because it was two in the morning, they hooked me to a tech in Texas, I think he was saying in Austin, but you know
how hard it is to understand those people.
Sundae Tuesday Feb 16 05:06 AM
Hmmm. I think this is the first time I've found the adult more attractive than the baby animal!
Usually the babies are all cute with their fluff and big eyes and all, but these little powderpuffs miss the sheer elegance of the mother.
Good on the zoo that they'll live long enough to achieve it 
fargon Tuesday Feb 16 07:54 AM
Why are there no casinos in Africa?
Because there are so many Cheetahs.
Snakeadelic Tuesday Feb 16 08:16 AM
Not long ago I saw photos online of a female cheetah in the wild who had managed the previously unrecorded feat of raising FIVE cubs to the age of nine weeks!
If I were a wildlife biologist I would have strongly advocated stealing two or three of them from her, finishing their upbringing in a for-release rehabilitation center, and turned them loose in areas where the very slight genetic differences could actually help the wild populations. But that's just me.
Not sure if anyone ever confirmed it, but for the roughly 42 years I've been watching nature documentaries and researching wildlife biology, the theory on the coloration of VERY young cheetah cubs has been that the long white hackle that runs down their spine the first few weeks, contrasting with charcoal-ish sides, belly, and legs, is meant to imitate Africa's favorite good ol' walking havoc seeking a place to happen--the honey badger.
Domestic cats, it is now believed, descend largely from small African and western Asian wild species. When a housecat puts its ears back and hisses, evolutionary biologists now believe it's trying to convince you it's a freaking cobra. No wonder some folks aren't comfortable with cats! "You feed me every day and make sure I have clean water and a safe home but I don't like your new relationship partner so I'm gonna pretend I can TOTALLY KILL THEM!"
Griff Tuesday Feb 16 08:41 AM
I wonder if Franklin Park Zoo has room for any more Cheetahs? Probably not, cuz Boston.
footfootfoot Tuesday Feb 16 11:47 AM
Cheetah cheetah mean mistreatah
xoxoxoBruce Tuesday Feb 16 01:02 PM
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Originally Posted by Snakeadelic
Not sure if anyone ever confirmed it, but for the roughly 42 years I've been watching nature documentaries and researching wildlife biology, the theory on the coloration of VERY young cheetah cubs has been that the long white hackle that runs down their spine the first few weeks, contrasting with charcoal-ish sides, belly, and legs, is meant to imitate Africa's favorite good ol' walking havoc seeking a place to happen--the honey badger.
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| Cubs are born with a mantle of fur running from the back of the neck down to the rump. This clever disguise aids in camouflaging the kittens in the high grass while they are following their mother. This mane like feature begins to disappear at the age of 3 months, but still remains visible at 2 years of age. The fur color of a newborn cub is medium gray, which gradually evolves into the adult colors by the age of 4 months. |
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