At the Wild Animal Park, we have three sister cheetahs on exhibit: Moyo, Pombe, and Etana. As many of the blog readers may know, the group of sisters is actually a foursome (See Kelly Casavant’s blog, Cheetah Girls). The fourth sister, Makena, is kept at an off-exhibit enclosure because, unlike her sisters, she could not handle the fame of being on exhibit as well as they could.
This living situation provides us with the perfect opportunity to compare behavior and hormone levels of cheetahs living together versus living alone. Female cheetahs in the wild are solitary animals, and some studies claim that when they live together in zoos, the dominant female will suppress the reproductive cycles of her roommates while she still cycles normally.

I will be observing the behavior of the three girls living together in order to find out who is the dominant sister, and then compare the girls’ hormone levels to see which sisters, if any, are cycling. This will tell us if suppression is occurring and if it is by the dominant female. Makena can then be compared to the other girls, since her hormone levels should be normal and she will be cycling regularly since she lives alone and has nothing to suppress her cycle. However, she does live near male cheetahs, so I’ll also be able to see if she starts to flirt with the boys because they are so close.

So who am I? My name is Megan Petersdorf, and I am joining the Behavioral Biology Division of the San Diego Zoo this summer as an intern. I am a fourth year biological anthropology student at University of California, San Diego. My past experience includes interning at the Oakland Zoo, where I developed enrichment for the primates, specifically the squirrel monkeys. I am very excited to be at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park this summer researching the female cheetahs’ behavior and hormones.

Before I dive into the first step of the project, the behavioral research, I need to make sure that I can tell each of the sisters apart! Makena lives alone, so I’m set with recognizing her. However, all three sisters on exhibit look very similar and it gets a bit tougher being able to spot the differences between them. Luckily I’ve been practicing and I think I’ve got it down. Once I explain the unique qualities they all have, I hope you will be able to visit the girls at the Park and tell them apart as well! Coloration and spots are the best places to start. Pombe has the densest pattern of spots, while Moyo and Etana’s spots look similar. Moyo and Etana also have similar coloring: they are a lighter shade of orange than Pombe. So now that we can spot Pombe by her spots, we just need to be able to tell Moyo and Etana apart. Here’s where the tail comes in: the end of Moyo’s tail is all brown, whereas Etana has another white stripe at the end of her tail. This all may sound confusing, but if you take the descriptions out when you look at them, you will catch on fast! Just remember: Pombe had dense spots, Moyo has the lightest coloration with dark end of tail, Etana has an extra stripe at the end of her tail.

Now that I can tell all the girls apart, I’m excited to finally begin taking behavioral data. Keep checking back throughout the summer for updates on my progress and to let me know if you visited the Wild Animal Park and could tell the girls apart!

Megan Petersdorf is a Bonner Summer Student Fellow in the San Diego Zoo’s Division of Behavioral Biology.

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