Monday: How a cheetah hunts and a bit about top speed

The cheetah run was as before lovely. Last time we ran Blondman and
Smartman but today it was the ladies turn; Hermione and Harry (OK,
Harry turned out to be a girl after she was named but still.. Ron is
in a separate pen with the other boys) Some great photos again.

As we had some guests with us Matt the keeper was full of cheetah
facts so I'm trying to recall them for the blog.

The run uses a car battery and starter motor and it pulls a piece of
rag around a course rather like a greyhound lure at a race. There is
no scent on the cloth and the colour is unimportant - its the movement
they like. It can go at 45mph but for a cheetah that's just a jog.
They can reach up to 70mph but only sustain that sort of speed for
relatively short bursts or they over heat and risk brain damage and
heart attack and death.

When hunting they catch 50% of their prey which is a high percentage
but once caught (and they kill by clamping their jaws around the neck
and suffocate the game - their jaws aren't strong enough to tear like
other animals) they have to rest for about 30-40mins. This means that
their lunch is vunerable to being taken by lions etc. Cheetahs are
built to run not fight so they will end up giving up their meal.

There are 52 captive cheetahs here - in huge pens so not like a zoo at
all. Most were orphaned. Typically, a cheetah cub stays with its mum
until its between 18months and 2years old and during that time the mum
teaches it to hunt. If it loses its mum before that age it can't
survive.It can run of course but it has no idea how to catch and kill
its prey. Some are also here because of ill health or similar. There
is one, Darwin, who was captured by a farmer when he was young and fed
the wrong diet so his bones in his back legs didn't calcify properly
so although he can run its not as fast or as good as a wild cheetah so
that's why he's here.

They are fed donkey as I've said. It's rather large bones means that
the cheetah can't crunch them (as it would if it was catching wild
antelope etc) so its rubbed with a mineral powder to add vitamins and
calcium to the diet.

This week there are some students from the Namibian Polytechnic on a
course and we joined them this afternoon on a lecture about wild life
census techniques so looking at the camera traps and game counts we
do. Interesting to learn about the scientific protocols and things you
have to consider when starting any research of this sort.

Food today? Gamey sausages, mash and beans for lunch and I've just had
chicken portions, macaroni and brocolli and cauliflower with cheese on
top.

Right best go as dinner was served late and I don't like walking back
down in the dark

Oh and it rained a very tiny amount here..