Most people know that cats climb trees, but did you know that cheetahs also climb trees? Although known for their land speed, little cheetahs do climb trees.

Here’s more about our cubs (see Kelly’s previous blog, Cheetah Cubs Turn One). In everyone’s life there are always new experiences. For our cheetah cubs, it is no different. As the girls grew up, their confidence also increased and they started exploring more. Trees began to intrigue them. There are two big California pepper trees in their pen. The bravest cub, Pombe (pictured above), was the first to venture up a little ways but soon all four were running up the trees, running through the forks of the trees, and chasing each other up, down, and around the trees. This became their new favorite game for a long time.

Eventually, the cubs were given access to an adjacent large pen with the “perfect” pepper tree for climbing. Actually, all four cheetahs could climb up and hang out on the tree because it’s huge with lots of limbs. If I couldn’t find the cubs, I’d just look up and there they’d be! This second pen also has some of the plushest grass and they still love running crazy in there and tearing it up!!

The girls don’t climb trees as much anymore as they are starting to act a little more “mature.” Sort of like people: remember climbing trees as a kid, but as you grew older you spent less time up in a tree? Like your house cats, they still get the “crazies” and need to run amok. They remain very bonded, so when the girls spring by, it’s like a cheetah train that barrels past you on some crazy adventure!

To answer readers’ questions, currently there are no cheetahs on exhibit in the Wild Animal Park’s Heart of Africa habitat because they are doing a lot of construction in and near the exhibit. Once completed, these four girls are supposed to have their day in the spotlight on exhibit. Their future beyond that is for the curators to decide. Female cheetahs become sexually mature around two years of age, so we wouldn’t try to breed them until then anyway. Some of the girls will probably leave to live elsewhere and the other(s) will remain here, but time will tell. Thank you for your comments.

Kelly Casavant is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo’s center for Conservation and Research for Endangered Species (CRES).

Watch a cheetah dash by you during a Cheetah Run Safari at the Wild Animal Park.

Posted in Default, Animal Stories, CRES (Conservation and Research for Endangered Species), General | Link to this post

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