Cheetah Cub 1
And finally, the reason that I made sure to stop at the Cincinnati Zoo in 2009.
This little girl, Nia Fay, was born alone. Normally, a cheetah mom will not produce enough milk to sustain a singleton. It appears to be an adaptation to get her to have another, large litter as soon as possible. This little girl was being hand raised in the nursery and has since grown into a beautiful young lady. As you can tell from the photos, even back then she was very interested in people and her surroundings. I spent more than an hour with her that day.
Additional information can be found at http://www.zooborns.com/zooborns/2009/08/baby-cheetah-video-cincinnati-zoo.html.
The complete album with 32 photos can be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/97578613/sets/72157644239498542/.
All of my photos from this zoo trip and others can be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/97578613/
This little girl, Nia Fay, was born alone. Normally, a cheetah mom will not produce enough milk to sustain a singleton. It appears to be an adaptation to get her to have another, large litter as soon as possible. This little girl was being hand raised in the nursery and has since grown into a beautiful young lady. As you can tell from the photos, even back then she was very interested in people and her surroundings. I spent more than an hour with her that day.
Additional information can be found at http://www.zooborns.com/zooborns/2009/08/baby-cheetah-video-cincinnati-zoo.html.
The complete album with 32 photos can be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/97578613/sets/72157644239498542/.
All of my photos from this zoo trip and others can be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/97578613/
12 years ago
738 Views
13 Likes
Supporters of SoFurry
Their population was greatly diminished by the last ice age. All modern cheetahs are so genetically similar to one another that they are all the equivalent of first cousins. This lack of genetic diversity makes them highly susceptible to disease, and many biologists believe that their lack of genetic diversity has made their eventual extinction a mathematical certainty.
"Mutant" cheetahs are going to be needed to shift the population back into greater genetic diversity and save them for the long term. Otherwise, something like the West Nile virus is going to wipe them put overnight. :(