#cheetah facts

[whovian378]

Fact of the day

Cheetahs can’t roar. They can just purr and chirp

#and it’s so cute #have you seen that video of them? they’re so fucking cute #like giant house cats #something I actually first learnt here on tumblr #cheetah #cheetahs #cheetah facts #cats #cats of tumblr #big cats #fun facts #this fact was brought to you by libra pads #fact of the day

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

To continue the theme of "wtaf is up with that sanctuary that feeds bears Twizzlers and camels Mountain Dew", here's another recent social media post I find rather concerning. Who the heck is giving cheetah - vulnerable animals with a very small population - to a sanctuary that is rabidly, openly anti-zoo and anti-conservation breeding?

The reason this stands out to me so much is that there just like... are not cheetah in sanctuaries in the US. Most cheetah in the US are part of a breeding program, either AZA's SSP or ZAA's AMP - it's not common to find them in even unaccredited zoos, much less newly moved to sanctuaries. Of the 400-some cheetah I found doing the big cat census in 2020, there were less than 10 in facilities that branded themselves as sanctuaries. So where did these cats come from?

What's more, okay, there's no trace of these ladies on social media before now. The Wild Animal Sanctuary is normally very open about their acquisitions, and no facility they've gotten animals from since their last USDA inspection has had cheetah. I haven't heard about any imported cheetah recently either, which is another thing you can check for this facility, because the majority of their rescues are imported from all over the world.

There's another weird thing about this post, too. Look at the language. It's all very "here's a cheetah! they're very happy outdoors in their nice habitat." And if you're not facility with this institution and their messaging, you might not catch why that's odd. This facility emphasizes, in every post they can, that their animals are rescued from horrible no-good very-bad abusive situations. Normally they name and shame if they can, or talk about how they came from the cub petting industry or private exploitation or such. There's none of that in this post, and it stands out because of it - especially because it's the first time these very rare, very charismatic big cats are being shared with their audience.

So where the heck did these cats come from?

Whelp.

Turns out the answer is AZA-accredited zoos. And whew, man, does that raise some questions.

Luckily these girls have some pretty distinctive names, so I was able to find them in the international and regional cheetah studbooks pretty easily. For both cats, the most recent listing in the studbooks was at AZA-accredited zoos in Texas: in 2020 Dahlila was living at Caldwell Zoo, and in 2022 Jaina was at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center.

Now, we don't know for sure that Caldwell and Fossil Rim are the facilities that chose to dump their cheetah in a sanctuary. There's some important context to know about exotic animal ownership and how animals leave AZA SSPs. General practice is that large charismatic mammals aren't bought and sold at AZA zoos, especially SSP animals, so animals sent out to other facilities for breeding or exhibition are moved around on loan. Sometimes their ownership changes with the transfer, but not always - it really depends on the species and how much control each facility wants to have over their animals. On top of that, the ownership of offspring sometimes alternates by litter or individual between the institutions that own the parents. When they're part of a cooperative breeding program none of that matters very much because all the animals are managed as a single population and moved as required for breeding and to fill empty display spaces. Where it's relevant is when an animal is removed from the SSP population - at that point it's totally up to the facility that owns it to choose where they live, as long as they send them somewhere AZA agrees is providing a reasonable standard of care. (This will be important in a little bit.)

So what we can tell from this situation is that Jaina and Dahlila were, for some reason, probably excessioned from the SSP in the last couple years. And whichever AZA facilities owned them decided to send them to The Wild Animal Sanctuary instead of finding a display-only placement at a zoo or safari park or similar facility.

Since I started writing this post, TWAS confirmed the origin of these girls in a Facebook comment.

I have real concerns about what appears to be an emerging trend of exotic animal exhibition facilities using sanctuaries as a "dumping ground" for their elderly or extra animals, in order to prioritize space for breeding or more desirable animals. I can't prove it yet, but there's been just enough weird transfers to have caught my attention. (In some cases, there's a good reason - sometimes all the habitats designed for the physical needs of elderly animals of a certain species already are full, and it's better for them to go somewhere they can exist more easily rather than trying to retrofit their current habitat - but it isn't every case). And here's the thing: many sanctuaries, like TWAS, message about how they have to exist to take all the discards from the zoo industry. In recent years that hasn't really been accurate, and historically, it did happen but not as commonly as it's portrayed. So... if that's true... and it's a bad thing... why are sanctuaries encouraging it by taking the animals zoos are transferring out to free up space? You'd think they'd want to say "find space in your own institutions and only call us if there's a crisis." (Money. The answer is money. Every new intake is used for marketing and drives additional donations.) Heck, why are zoos playing into that narrative, when they're frequently rebutting attacks claiming they discard the animals that aren't useful or aesthetic anymore?

All of this actually makes a lot of sense given how short on space all the AZA SSP programs are. Both in general, and for big cats, there are not enough spaces across accredited zoos to hold all the animals needed for sustainable populations. (This is why AZA just recently re-imagined their SSP programs, which is a whole other complicated mess that I am working on a writeup about). Recent political shifts within AZA corporate leadership have also discouraged collaborations between AZA-accredited zoos and non-AZA facilities, so while 20 years ago it would have been fine to move extraneous / non-breeding cats to smaller unaccredited facilities for display, that's less of an option. Which leaves sanctuaries as kind of the only politically appropriate option. This would also explain why the text of the post is so weird: there's probably a contract in place to prevent using their images to bash zoos.

The problem with sanctuaries as a solution for housing extra animals is, well, the quality of care they provide. If you haven't seen me say it before: sanctuaries are as varied in their expertise and function as zoos. In the case of The Wild Animal Sanctuary (and their other facilities, like the Refuge these cheetah are at) everything I have learned about them indicates that their animal care is highly questionable. Which is a problem, because - as mentioned earlier - AZA-accredited facilities are required to follow a responsible population management policy, which means ensuring that animals they send outside of AZA go somewhere that gives them high-quality care.

TWAS is an organization that prefers to feed big cats at multiple facilities frozen meat puree "frisbees" by chucking them over the fence. They don't have any way to separate co-housed cats to prevent conflict during feeding or resource guarding, because they don't build their enclosures with any sort of shift or lock-out areas. It's also unclear how they remove food waste without a way to shift animals out to go find it. (For bears they drive in on a truck into the habitat and then go on foot to clean, but I don't know if that's done with the big cats once they’ve been released from quarantine pens.

(These are my photos of food in carnivore habitats at TWAS this summer. Given the pest accumulation on the meat frisbee and the fact that I visited early in the day, it seems probable it was at least a day old.)

This is an organization that is ethically against training their animals for any reason: it's literally written into their statement of purpose as a “true sanctuary.” It's also described below, in a recent book published about the facility.

That policy means these cheetahs will not have a recall behavior, will not be trained for medical examinations or as a way to lower stress for procedures, and will not get the mental enrichment and interaction they're used to from regular training sessions. According to the book, medications are delivered on a long spoon / tongs tucked inside the cat equivalent of a pill pocket. (Which anyone with a pet cat knows falls apart as a plan if they're sick enough to not feel hungry).

I'm pretty sure there's no heated shelter for the large carnivores or bears at TWAS. The main shelter for animals at the Sanctuary is single-entrance concrete culverts buried underground far enough they're supposed to maintain a constant temperature all winter.

Sounds nice in theory, but with no second exit animals can get trapped down there, and there's no way to monitor them when they're inside. I don't know what type of shelter the Refuge provides, but it probably isn't much different. Even the quarantine spaces - smaller outdoor kennel-type pens with three exposed mesh panel walls - have no heat, and just an above-ground culvert block for them to curl up in. While cheetah are surprisingly adaptable to cold weather, winters in Colorado can be very harsh for prolonged periods of time.

As far as I know, most of the animals at facilities TWAS runs don't get regularly changed, novel enrichment. I've certainly never seen much in the habitats other than climbing structures when I've visited their main facility over the years, and most of their messaging around “toys” is semi-permanent furniture like giant telephone wire spools or a suspension bridge for climbing. I think some of the bears get balls? The messaging from TWAS is that their animal care is better because it's close to a natural life in the wild. Animals can be animals! When returned to their wild roots, animals shouldn't need anything from humans and are happier that way, etc.

When animals come to the Sanctuary (or the partner facility, the Refuge) they're literally chucked into a big fenced-off piece of land and left out there to "be cats" without human interaction except for feeding time and observations. Which is the polar opposite of what these cheetah are used to! AZA cheetahs, even those that aren't program animals, are intensely managed. They're used to regular human contact, frequent training, and constant enrichment. So what's "normal" for a wild cat is a far cry from what these cheetah girls have always known. That's not better - that's a loss of quality of life.

I don't understand how moving animals to places like TWAS is in line with AZA's Responsible Collection Management policy. I don't understand how AZA facilities think the type of husbandry the facility describes providing is acceptable. If another zoo utilized half the same care practices, they'd be drawn and quartered by their industry peers as well as by the public - and rightfully so. I don't understand why anyone wants to send animals there, based even just on what's easily observable. I don't have more information or really a conclusion, just that’s what's observable from an external vantage point is upsetting as heck and I worry for those cheetah girls.

#big cats #cheetahs #animal welfare #sanctuary politics #zoo industry politics #animal care #AZA #long post #this originally said cheetah are highly endangered which was a fact checking error #updated it to reflect that #bug tw

[soranatus]

Wonder Woman & A King Cheetah By Brian Stelfreeze

#Brian Stelfreeze #dc comics #wonder woman #diana of themiscyra #Diana Prince #King Cheetah #art #fun fact! King Cheetahs are normal Cheetahs with a rare mutation that causes their spots to become bigger and blotchy #my edit

[hoofpeet]

Spice has his ear things fully pinned back in almost every drawing... I feel like when he gets dragged to Unova he's so scaredboy and confused by everything about modern life that he turns into one of those nervous little chihuahua dogs

#he has an anxiety vest so passengers won't try to pet him #sugar (has been living as a normal human for almost 2 years) has to guide him around the city #like when really nervous cheetahs have pet dogs #he uses the fact that he's mimicking emmett as an excuse to cling onto her bc there are more people in nimbasa than he's literally evr seen

[shy-cryptic]

the two most annoying birds in equestria

#shys art ✨ #rvb grif #rvb simmons #rvb #richard simmons #dexter grif #Simmons being a griffin makes so sense #he has the mind of a bird and anxiety of a cheetah + seems like the type to be a bit jealous over the fact he can't have a cutie mark #grif a hippogriff cuz one tropical/sea and two idk it just fits his vibe #he has a cool talent but has little to no use in every place he's been

[goldenamaranthe-blog]

Yang: How has Weiss been this week with Ruby recovering from her surgery?

Blake: Prickly, unapproachable, irritable, anxious.

Yang: So, Weiss?

Blake: Yup.

Yang: Well, good news! (Picks up a russet and black Shepherd/Lab mix) Ruby is back and ready for action! Hopefully, she doesn't get into another metal skewer incident at the next grill out.

Dog!Ruby: (wiggling excitedly and whining)

Yang: Okay! Okay! Easy, I get it! Your girlfriend is right through those doors. Easy! (Opens door and sets Ruby down)

Dog!Ruby: (sprints around enclosure like a blur only to get tackled)

Cheetah!Weiss: (pinning Ruby down and licking her affectionately. Soft purrs emanating from her chest)

Dog!Ruby: (absolutely loving the attention)

Blake: I still can't believe cheetahs need their own emotional support dogs.

#bumbleby #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #rwby #ruby rose #weiss schnee #white rose #dog!ruby #cheetah!weiss #fun fact about the cheetah #rwby crack post #rwby shitpost

[fisheito]

I forgot my stylus at home

Anyway here's a phone finger drawing of Guard Wolf Karu

#he is in fact a very good boy. #i was like THANK YOU #karu speaks truth while being appropriately protective #misty vale #it's like those situations with cheetahs in captivity #u have this slinky murder-capable creature who's actually quite shy so u need to get a puppy in there with them #so they can be best friends and eat together and make the slinky more sociable #MY FINGER DRAWINGS LOOK JUST LIKE MY STYLUS DRAWINGS 🤣😂😂 #karu #yakumo

[small-jar]

I love animals. especially big cats, especially cheetahs!!! They have been my favorite animals for forever. I just about king cheetahs which have these sick nasty stripes on its back and slightly longer hair and the reason they have them is bc of a recessive gene that both the parents have to have.

They look like this

And here is a drawing I just did of one form a little late night drawing study

#jar does art #big cats #cat facts #art #cheetahs #love them so much

[katelynnwrites]

pairing: Ona Batlle x f!Reader

word count: 947

warnings: noneee

summary: ona’s gonna to miss you at camp so you give her a little something as a birthday present to help with that

a/n: for my favourite girl’s birthday, requested by @batlleonafc

Birthday Presents

‘I’m going to miss you…’ Ona mumbles, pulling you closer to her under the blankets.

‘I know and I’m going to miss you more my love.’

Ona tucks her face into your neck and shakes her head.

‘No you’re not. I’m going to miss you the most. I’m going to miss your cuddles and your smile and your laugh and your kisses. I’m going to miss holding you mi amor.’

You kiss the top of her head gently.

‘I think I’ve got something to help with that.’

Ignoring Ona’s protests, you get out of bed and move over to the closet where you pull out a wrapped package.

Lying back down next to her, you put it in her hands.

‘This was meant to be your birthday present but since you’ll be at camp, I might as well give it to you now.’

Ona excitedly starts to unwrap it but then pauses.

‘Does this mean I’m not going to get amazing sex as a present?’

You laugh and Ona grins cheekily.

‘You’ll get it after camp I promise.’

‘Good.’

Ona gives you a little kiss before going back to unwrapping her gift.

She gasps when she sees it, immediately hugging it tightly to her chest.

Anxiously you ask, ‘You like it then?’

‘Te amo! I love it! Thank you!’

Chuckling, you take out your phone to snap a photo of Ona holding her birthday present, a stuffed toy of her favourite animal.

She buries her face in the cheetah’s soft fur, a wide smile on her freckled face.

******

Mapi laughs quietly as she comes out of the shower to see Ona cuddling with her toy cheetah on the bed. She’s petting and softly talking to it.

‘You know that’s not your girlfriend right?’

‘Sí but mi novia gave Spots to me.’ Ona kisses the top of her cheetah’s head and Mapi rolls her eyes.

Ona had been practically inseparable from the stuffed toy since camp began.

******

Mapi giggles as she watches Ona doze off, clutching Spots to her chest. The plane ride was a long one and the younger girl had been exhausted after the game.

Nudging Leila, she points Ona out to her and her fellow Barcelona player can’t help but laugh.

She gets up, taking a quick photo and uploading it onto her Instagram story, tagging you and Ona in it.

In England, you open it only to smile at the sight. You were beyond glad that Ona loved her gift that much.

******

‘Hi love.’ You greet the moment the FaceTime call connects.

‘Hola mi amor!’

She’s especially cheery and you tell her so, making her giggle and answer, ‘Well of course I am. I’m seeing you in two days.’

You smile at her, saying, ‘I’m missing you Ona.’

‘I miss you too. I can’t wait to see you but you were right, Spots helps me when I’m missing you. In fact, cuddling with her is almost the same as cuddling you. Between the two of you, I think she gives me better cuddles.’

The teasing grin on her face lets you know she’s joking but you pretend to be offended.

‘I should have known better than to give you a replacement for me.’ You pout and Ona mischievously adds, ‘Sí mi amor you should have known.’

She holds Spots up in front of the camera, giving her a series of small kisses.

‘Pity she doesn’t give you kisses back.’ You say with a raised eyebrow.

Ona nods in agreement, ‘It is a pity.’

The both of you stare at each other a moment longer before bursting into laughter together. It’s a joyful, bright sound that fills both of your respective hotel rooms and has you thinking that your girlfriend was the only person who could make you laugh like that, the only person who could make you this happy.

******

By the end of camp, everyone on Spain’s team could recognise Spots. The stuffed toy cheetah had made appearances on the plane, on the bus and even at Ona’s birthday dinner.

Now Spots was making an appearance at the team movie night, Ona cradling her close as she watched the film.

When she’d walked into Jenni’s room, the team’s designated hangout, she had proudly lifted her cheetah up, announcing that Spots was going to watch the movie too. It had drawn several chuckles from the older members of the team, Mapi especially who was absolutely loving this new softer side of Ona, who often took herself too seriously at camps.

As the movie finishes, she absent-mindedly plays with Spots’ fur.

She’s surprised when Claudia comes up to her, shyly asking if she can give Spots a pet.

‘Yeah of course!’ Ona excitedly holds her cheetah out and Claudia pets her gently.

‘She’s so cute.’ The younger girl murmurs and Ona nods vigorously.

Claudia gives one last longing look at Spots before she leaves and Ona giggles as most of her other teammates give Spots a kiss or pat as they return to their respective rooms.

Ona should have known then that Spots meant something not just to her but to the rest of the team.

******

A day later, at the airport, everyone gives her and Spots a hug and kiss prior to splitting up for their various flights.

Mapi stays behind though, to give her newest roommate an extra tight hug.

‘Take care of Spots. She’s our team mascot now.’ Mapi warns half-seriously, winking before she runs after the rest of the Barca girls.

Ona’s left behind, the only one on a flight to Manchester but she is perfectly happy, squeezing her cheetah gently and walking towards the gate, making her way home to you.

Spanish Translations:

te amo - i love you

mi novia - my girlfriend

‘hola mi amor.’ - ‘hello my love.’

‘sí mi amor.’ - ‘yes my love.’

#when the two of you are back in your apartment #ona makes you cuddle spots #in fact she does it all the time in the days leading up to the next international break #when you finally ask her why she was willing to seperate from her cheetah #she shyly admits that she wants you to keep hugging spots so that she would smell like you #this way she reasoned that spots would give her better cuddles because she’d really smell like you #like home #ona batlle x reader #ona batlle #ona batlle imagine #espwnt imagine #espwnt x reader #woso fanfics #woso imagine #woso x reader #spain wnt x reader #spain wnt imagine #muwfc x reader #muwfc imagine #katelynnwrites #uswnt imagine #uswnt x reader

[opaline-entropy]

I'm getting the hyperfixation feeling but specifically for vampires. Like my brain is tingling about vampires specifically, and idk why

#i think it's because I'm consuming a lot of vampire posts. #when we were a child we were deathly afraid of but also morbidly fascinated with vampires. #primarily due to the fact that we had a dream a vampire stole our mother and then tried to turn us after we fake bit him #and it wasn't even a sexy vampire it was one of those bald nosferatu lookking ones. unfortunately. anyways it fuelled our vampire fear #which is ironic bc qs a child we were convinced we were a lycanthrope of sorts. i am being serious #we were convinced one day we'd grow fur and turn into a cheetah #the realization that we would not was ultimately very disappointing #anyways i know in some media vampires and werewolves have beef #which is odd? #bc we had never consumed any vampire media that would lead us to the conclusion that as a ''werecheetah'' we should fear vampires. #we just developed that fear all on our own. no outside influence needed #just pure instinct babey! #anyways now they fascinate us and we love them #we have a copy of bram stoker's dracula somewhere. still need to read that

[mindblowingfactz]

Male cheetahs have a specific bark that causes female cheetahs to ovulate “on-demand.”

#cheetah #facts #animecore

[handfulofmuses]

I like that cub Cheezi is the one who gets offended when these cubs call them "hyena“ instead by name because yeah, using their species with disdain to refer to them is the most bothersome thing in that show

#kion: hyena. #cub Cheezi immediately: HEY HE HAS A NAME LION CUB #tbh he only does it because they do it all the time #he calls Fuli cheetah #mockingly refers to Kiara as cub #cub Cheezi was definitely tired of that nonsense of not using his name #genuinely appreciate the fact that cub Cheezi immediately reacts offended towards that like yeah kiddo go off on them #i love when they make Cheezi a loudmouth

[purplesoulsapphire]

Here’s some fun facts about Cheetahs 🐆

• These cats are fast. They can typically reach speeds of up to 98 kilometers per hour (61 miles per hour), and can go from 0 to 60 Mph in just 3-seconds, which is faster than most super-cars.

• Their stride length becomes as long as 7m (23ft) at full pace, which means the cheetah spends more than half the time airborne.

• It may look large and cumbersome, but when on the chase, the tail of the Cheetah plays an important role. It actually helps to steer the cheetah as it runs, like a rudder on a boat. It’s not a cheetahs speed that’s their greatest attribute when hunting, it’s this agility — their skill at jumping sideways, changing directions quickly and slowing down almost instantly.

• A team or researchers found that Cheetahs hunting tactics were specific to characteristics of their prey, and are far more sophisticated than thought. Research suggests that cheetah chases comprise two phases – the first phase insolves rapid acceleration to catch up with prey. The second phase involves slowing down five to eight seconds before the end of the chase, where the cheetah will predict and match movements of the prey, as the distance between them closes

• Carbon dating has estimated the age of some cheetah fossils as being between one and two million years old.

• Unlike big cats like the lion, cheetahs are unable to roar. They are closer to your domestic house cat in that they can purr, both inhaling and exhaling.

• Known to be typically solitary animals, females raise their cubs alone for about a year before they leave. Male cheetahs sometimes will live in a small group of brothers from the same litter.

• Cheetahs can mate any time of the year with gestation lasting just three months. A litter can range between 2 and 4 cubs.

• Female cheetahs will move their cubs to different hiding places every few days. Once the cubs reach 5 or 6 weeks of age, they will follow their mothers and even start eating from their kills. By the time the cubs reach one year of age, they are hunting on their own. At 15 months, they will move away from their mother and either find a mate or sometimes live in a small group.

• Sumerians trained cheetahs for hunting back in 3000 BC. The Indian (then Hindustan) ruler Emperor Akbar had 1,000 trained cheetahs he used for hunting while in power from 1556 to 1605. Even King Tut’s tomb (1400 BC) contained various cheetah artifacts. It was because of this that historians believed that the cheetah was a sacred animal to ancient Egyptians.

Resharing pictures and information of cheetahs from the internet.

#animals #cheetah #mammal #cats #information #animal facts #fun facts #natural history #ancient history #biology

[eddiediaaz]

what is ur favourite animal

cheetahs!! i've loved them since i was a kid, i don't even know why, they're just so cute and precious to me

HONESTY HOUR: ask me anything

#alie replies #feunnec #and i always get so annoyed when people use cheetah panther leopard or jaguar interchangeably lol #and how “cheetah print” is in fact LEOPARD print lol

[dammek-time]

[8/7/2023] did you know cheetahs make housecat noises,, yeah they dont roar either isnt that sick??

#tetrarch dammek #hiveswap #species swap #scribble time #host dammek draws #dude if you havent heard a cheetah purr yet get on it #it will improve your mental state #also picked up theyre diurnal hunters unlike other big cats #the patterns and spots on their tails are individualized every cheetah is different #cheetahs have support dogs because theyre anxious and socially inept #holy shit i need to post before i find more facts to be jazzed about

[skitskatdacat63]

🎤🧸🙃

<33

Claireeeee tyyy helloooo 🥺

🎤 "Is there a song you know all the lyrics to?": please don't take this as a humble brag but I think I probably know the lyrics to every song I listen to more than once 😭 I constantly sing: in the car, in the shower, with my parents, randomly???? So song lyrics stick in my head better than anything else. But also did you know there's a reason for that? I'm taking some music class this yr and I learned it's actually a different part of your brain that absorbs music lyrics than regular words, so that's why they stick better!! But uh yeah, every song I like

🧸 "Favorite place to nap?": the couch in my kitchen(well more of a sitting room??? I still don't know) is sooooo comfortable. The vibe in that room is very nice, big windows, warm, etc. So if I go sit there before going up to my room when I get back from class, I sometimes just pass out

🙃 "What's a weird fact you know?": Oh god please don't do this to me again(kidding) Did you know that cheetahs are not classified as a great cat(rather a lesser cat) because they can't roar? They can only meow and chirp(among other noises ofc.) And did you know they're the only type of cat that can't retract their claws?

#LMFAO WAIT WAIT #so cofi made that joke about how i can drop 20 fun facts normally but not even 1 in stress #in that first question I LITERALLY DROPPED A FUN FACT WITHOUT EVEN THINKING ABOUT IT #and then i got to the third one and was like oh fuck oh god another fact #anyways i was super obsessed with cheetahs as a kid so please take that #did you know they can accelerate faster than most sports cars 🥺 #catie.asks.