CHEETAHS I KNOW!

GRAPHICS INTENSIVE: SLOW TO LOAD!!!

Over the course of the last couple years, I have had the pleasure of living quite close to the World Famous San Diego Zoo. I now live between it and the Wild Animal Park, both of which offer wonderful opportunities to see our worlds diminishing wildlife. ((In other words, PLEASE VISIT THEM!!!)) Last year, at the WAP, a cheetah cub was born and rejected by her mother. Kololo is her name, and I managed to document her growth from age 5 weeks to about age 15 weeks. Here are some sample pictures of her wonderful cub-hood!

Kololo at 5 weeks with her keeper for size comparison. She has a fluff of grey-tan fur on her back and head, and few visible spots. Her facial markings are very obvious. She needed hand-feeding for about the first 10 weeks, but ate meat at about 7 weeks. She was in the nursery but not on display since week 3.

At about 6 weeks, she was up and about with more grace than before, but still was just a kitten. She learned me by sight, though she was still quite distracted when there were others observing her with me. The observation window was the whole wall of her enclosure, angled a bit, with a knee-high wall base. It made photography in certain light almost impossible, and people with flashes... I wanted to kill them.

Kololo slept in a box with her fake-fur mom blanket, and many stuffed toys. She spent hours there, but also slept wherever she dropped after play. She's got quite the attitude here...

I've used this picture on my "Kololo Fan Club" Tee shirt... She was just yawning, but she does look so fierce!

Kololo learned to stalk very early on. She was watching the dangling camera-lens-cap from my camera in this picture... She was always in motion, or at a full stop, so there are two kinds of Kololo pix: blurry and not blurry.

As all cats, Kololo learned to become a LoafCat. She rarely remained still (unless she was asleep) so this was one rare moment. I believe this was about week 10, she's lost most of her head-fluff, but there is still a silver sheen on her back, and her spots are starting to show strongly. She was about the size of a large housecat at this point, but her legs were much longer, and her tail was almost as long as the rest of her!

At play, or waking up, stretching is the cat's perfect exersize. Kololo was on her way to a very romping play session. Her favorite blue elephant toy is next to her.

This was the last time Kololo was nursed. The whole staff was very sorry to see her go, especially because they thought Kolo-head was going to the Wild Animal Park for their breeding program. At the last minute, Joan Embry came along and pretty much claimed her. Money will get you everywhere, and they weren't too happy about it. But shhhh... You didn't hear that from me. Or them.

Along with extensive stalking and prey-capture technique, Kololo was an expert at stealth. Look at how little you can see of her head! Just going to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt: Cats are cats, no matter how big or small they are...

Here's a nice full-body shot at 14 weeks. She's barely got that silvery ruff, but it's going to be shaggy on her back for about another 5 weeks. Her legs got all long in about 6 days, and just when she thought she had that running thing down, her balance got all wonky -- just like a teenager.

That killer instinct at work.

This was as close as I could get to Kololo. When the keepers knew that she wouldn't be available for viewing at the Wild Animal Park, and of course they'd gotten used to me being there before I went to work every day (yes, EVERY DAY) they allowed me to the back of the nursery room, in the hallway between rooms. Kololo's first action? Hissing at me, of course.

All Page Contents (c) 2000 by Sara K Gray No reproduction without permission. Thanks!