Judging by the previous video and now this one, cheetahs seem remarkably acclimated to human presence, at least in safari caravans. Here’s a video of a cheetah encounter in Kenya, and there’s a not-too-graceful moment around a minute in.
BTW, I understand that cheetahs are the only cats with claws that can’t retract. You can see them in this clip:
Oh, and for langniappe, here’s a cat that sounds like a goat.
Reblogged this on Mark Solock Blog.
Hmm, Suppose vocalization in cats is something that should be hard wired. So something could be off in the wiring in there.
The “goat” cat seems to be vocalizing a lot like other cats I have known when they see birds. Even domestic cats that have never seen a bird before seem to make that kind of quick and repetitive type of sound when creeping up with their attention focused on what they consider potential avian prey. I have also witnessed certain types of playing to result in the same kind of vocalization in some of my cats.
Though I admit, the pitch in the above clip is much lower than I have ever personally encountered, no doubt giving it the more goat like quality.
Yes, this “chatter” vocalization is typical of cats stalking birds or flying insects. All my cats have done this, although (as you say) at higher pitch.
I was actually in the mara last June. An had a similar experience. The guides told us there is one cheetah that does this. She is the granddaughter of a cheetah that grew up in captivity and would go on hunting trips with her owner. She would use the top of the jeeps to search for prey. The skill was then passed down to her children to the video you see here. I also have a pic of possibly the same cheetah and her cubs.
http://goo.gl/CSsvM
http://goo.gl/Almfl
Cheetahs’ claws actually are retractable, but lack standard sheaths so they are always visible and appear to be non-retractable. (The Big Cats and Their Fossil Relatives, Alan Turner, 1997, p132.)
As for the ‘goat’ cat, all three of my cats do something like this — at a much lower volume and higher pitch — when they’re excited about something they’ve seen such as a bird.
What’s wrong with these people? The went all the way to Kenya to view the wildlife — and recorded the experience on video with their phones!
Just out of interest, who’d win in a straight fight between a cheetah and a tourist, if the cheetah decided it was a little peckish?
That’s pretty much what I was figuring. With the encounter rate through the roof, I figure it’s only a matter of time before the incidents start.
Cheetah attacks on humans are virtually unknown. There’s always the risk of some injury, as with domesticated cats, but I’d not be the least bit afraid of a cheetah, wild or not.
Apologies if this was covered in the earlier thread, but this behavior may have started about 15 years ago when BBC began filming their “Big Cat Diary” series. In year one, the some of the very young cheetahs will play and seek shade under the camera vans, but the adult female won’t approach. But the kids grow up with no fear of the vehicles. As adults, they jump on the vans. And they have kids, and they have kids, and so on. Probably three to five generations now, and the descendents of that first cheetah family use the cars as spotting posts, they way they use hillocks.
They have also, occasionally, peed in the vehicles through the top, and chewed-to-destruction some of the mounted cameras (i.e., the very expensive ones).
Acinonyx = nail without movement. Fide Zoo’s comment, this isn’t so . . .
This Cheetah fell not once, but twice. My pet cat would have been too embarrassed to even try it the second time.
That is a very strange noise for a kitten to make.