I can't believe it! I actually support the CP of Gogou and Cheetah

The big cat and his little dog companion, it looks like the dog is taking a selfie｜Grahm S. Jones

The cheetah in the picture above is named Emmet, and the Labrador retriever in its arms is named Cullen. They grew up together and have always been close friends.

Emmett and Cullen when they were little, so cute｜COLUMBUS ZOO AND AQUARIUM

In 2016, Emmett, a two-week-old cheetah, lost his mother's care and was sent to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium for intensive care due to pneumonia. After he recovered, the zoo prepared a special companion for the ten-week-old Emmett - seven-week-old Cullen! From then on, Emmett began to "bully" Cullen...

"I bite, I gnaw, I roll..." The cheetah is getting bigger! | Columbus Zoo and Aquarium

Providing cheetahs with canine companions is not a gimmick used by the zoo to attract tourists. This is done for the cheetahs' sake.

Shy cheetah, calm companion

Cheetahs living in captivity often become increasingly sensitive, anxious and fearful of humans as they age.

The cheetah's tense nerves are good for survival in the wild , and it can detect potential threats in time - stronger competitors on the grassland. The cheetah's body is tailor-made for speed, and when it encounters muscular and ferocious predators such as lions, hyenas and leopards, the cheetah can only "run away as the best strategy".

When faced with a larger predator, cheetahs choose to flee rather than fight | Gregory Wilson

Even in safe captive conditions, cheetahs still cannot change their neurotic character of being ready to flee at any time, and are prone to being in a state of stress for a long time . Ultimately, their reproductive capacity will be seriously affected, and they can only rely on artificial means to produce offspring.

How can you relax the cheetah's tense nerves? The dog asks to go to battle!

Compared to cheetahs, which have only been raised in captivity in recent decades, dogs have gone through thousands of years of domestication and have long since become calm, loyal companion animals . Trained therapy dogs can also relieve people's anxiety and stress and help patients recover faster.

Facing the nervous cheetahs, the dogs can also provide companionship and a sense of security , following them wherever they go. Even if the cheetahs often slap the dogs during play, the dogs are not bothered. The dogs' calm and composed personalities also set an example for the cheetahs, improving their restlessness.

Slapping is a common occurrence for cheetah dogs… | Matthew Paulson/Flickr

Although there is no special dog breed to serve as a cheetah's companion dog, the cheetah's current dog companions are basically large dogs, such as the mild-tempered and stable golden retrievers, Labradors and various shepherd dogs , which are similar in age to the cheetah.

When the cheetah and the dog are only three or four months old, the keepers will arrange their first meeting. Cheetahs are naturally timid and will be very wary of unfamiliar individuals, let alone another completely new species. Therefore, at the beginning, the keepers will use fences to separate them and give them enough time to get familiar with each other . Next, remove the fence and wait for them to get used to each other completely, then they will naturally play together and become inseparable.

Emmett chooses his own puppy companion | Bell

With the company of good friends, Emmett grew into a calm and confident cheetah, exuding aura in every move.

At two years old, Emmett is already a confident big cat | The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium

Leopard's Buddy | Dave Rogers/Facebook

A slap in the face

The fate of cheetahs and dogs actually began more than 40 years ago.

In 1976, conservation biologist Laurie Marker , who was in charge of cheetah breeding at the Oregon Wildlife Park, raised a cheetah cub named Khayam by hand . Female cheetahs usually give birth to three or four cubs in a litter, but this little cheetah had no companion. Rather than raising a single cub, female cheetahs often choose to abandon it directly. Laurie decided to replace Khayam's siblings with a dog to accompany him as he grew up.

Laurie Mark, pictured here with Chewbaaka the cheetah and his friend Koya (an Anatolian shepherd dog) in 2003 | CHEETAH CONSERVATION FUND

This was a bold attempt. Incredibly, the cat and the dog accepted each other and established a friendship. Most importantly, in the company of the dog, the cheetah was no longer nervous .

Five years later, at Lawley's suggestion, the San Diego Zoo provided a companion dog, a golden retriever puppy named Anna, to the cheetah cub Arusha. This was the first time this approach was implemented in a zoo .

Anna and Arusha as children | sdzwa.org

When the keeper first introduced the dog Anna to Arusha, the little cheetah immediately got defensive, hissed at Anna and slapped her , but Anna remained calm and did not fight back.

Afterwards, the keepers retreated to a place where they could not see and secretly observed. Arusha raised his cat claws again and hit Anna. This time, Anna barked wildly, and Arusha immediately gave in . In this way, the golden retriever established his "prestige" in front of the little cheetah.

Although Arusha is twice the size of Anna, Anna is still the dominant one in the relationship . She is like Arusha's big sister. They play and chase each other during the day, groom each other's hair, walk around the zoo with their trainers, and snuggle up to each other to sleep at night. They are inseparable.

Anna and Arusha snuggling together｜timeline.sdzwa.org

Arusha and Anna quickly became the stars of the San Diego Zoo. More and more people came to see this strange scene that could not appear in nature. With Anna's company, Arusha seemed very relaxed even in front of strange tourists or in new environments.

Anna is smiling happily｜timeline.sdzwa.org

After this successful case, at least 15 zoos in the United States have also begun to provide companion dogs for artificially raised cheetah cubs to help them better adapt to captive life.

Even in the wild

Dogs are not only good companions to cheetahs in the zoo, but they also protect cheetahs in their own way in the wild.

In the wild, cheetahs once ranged across Asia and Africa, but now only exist in 9% of their historical range. The population has dropped by 90% in the past 100 years to less than 7,000, and is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List .

Human-wildlife conflict, loss of habitat and prey, as well as poaching and illegal trade all threaten wild cheetahs. Among them, "human-wildlife conflict" is the most important factor .

In order to ease the conflict between local residents and cheetahs, the cheetahs and dogs once again formed an indissoluble bond.

As mentioned earlier, Dr. Lawley Mark found a dog companion for his only cheetah, Khayam, to grow up with him. In 1977, Lawley took the grown-up Khayam to southwest Africa to see if cheetahs born in captivity could learn to hunt.

Laurie and the Cheetah｜oneearth.org

But she was surprised to find that local farmers believed that cheetahs were the culprit for killing livestock, so they hunted cheetahs crazily . In the 1980s, more than 7,000 cheetahs died under hunting guns, causing the number of wild cheetahs in the area to plummet.

To find out the reasons behind this and protect the increasingly disappearing cheetahs, Lawley founded the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) in Namibia and conducted research in villages around cheetah habitats.

Eventually, she came to realize a cruel reality - for the farmers here, the economic loss of even one sheep is a heavy blow, and no one would be willing to protect cheetahs at the cost of their entire family's food and clothing .

Lawley realized that a win-win solution must be found to protect the economic interests of farmers while preventing people from continuing to kill cheetahs. So she introduced two types of shepherd dogs native to Turkey, the Kangal and Anatolian Shepherd Dogs, to the local area . These two dogs can help herders drive away cheetahs that approach the sheep, thereby protecting the sheep .

Shepherd dogs used to drive away wild animals｜oneearth.org

The project started in 1994 and has lasted for nearly 30 years. So far, more than 750 guard dogs have been introduced to Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania, reducing livestock losses by 90% and protecting cheetah populations living near villages from being killed . Through the active popularization and education of the Cheetah Conservation Foundation, local people have also begun to change their views on cheetahs and gradually accepted the concept of wildlife protection.

On the African savannah, cheetahs and dogs are seen chasing each other. It may seem like a hostile relationship, but isn’t it also a form of protection?

Whether in the zoo or in the wild, cheetahs have their own guardians. The picture shows Emmett chasing another puppy partner Coby (who has passed away)｜Jones

References

[1]www.facebook.com/columbuszoo

[2] An Emotional Support Dog Is the Only Thing That Chills Out a Cheetah https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/cheetah-dog-furry-friendship

[3] 'Secrets of the Zoo' explores bonds behind the scenes, wildlife conservation efforts https://abcnews.go.com/US/secrets-zoo-explores-bonds-scenes-wildlife-conservation-efforts/story?id=63657345

[4] Unlikely Friends: Cheetahs and Labrador Retrievers https://www.caryunkelbach.com/unlikely-friends-cheetahs-and-labrador-retrievers/

[5] A Cheetah and His Dog https://www.zooborns.com/zooborns/2016/09/a-cheetah-and-his-dog.html

[6] Conservation Hero: Dr. Laurie Marker https://www.oneearth.org/conservation-hero-laurie-marker/

[7] Help Save Cheetahs with Livestock Guarding Dogs https://cheetah.org/ccf-blog/livestock-guarding-dogs/help-livestock-guarding-dogs-save-cheetahs/

Author: Jian Er

Editor: Little Towel, Mai Mai

This article comes from GuokrNature (ID: GuokrNature)

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