A Toy for Cheetahs
Posted at 3:10 pm October 4, 2007 by Kym Nelson
Our three cheetah sisters–Moyo, Pombe, and Etana–were born at our off-site cheetah facility at the Wild Animal Park on August 9, 2005 (see blog, Cheetah Cubs Turn One) and took up residence in the Park’s Heart of Africa habitat in March 2007. It has been an ongoing challenge for the keepers to find enrichment items that these girls are interested in. Unfortunately for us, cheetahs rely on sight instead of smell, so items like perfumes and spices–standbys for our lions and tigers–are not effective.
We started with the basics: bringing new logs and branches into the exhibit from different areas in the Park. The girls might inspect the new item once and then ignore it completely. Food is usually a good motivator for any cat; with that in mind, we tried hiding meatballs in small boxes. The idea was that the girls would have to figure out how to get the meat out of the box. Well, our cheetahs are obviously well fed because after sniffing the boxes they all walked away without so much as a single morsel of meat eaten! We hung toys from tree branches, but if the toy was not moving, the cheetahs weren’t interested. We tried novel food items, but still no success. I guess our girls are partial to their regular food, a ground meat product made for carnivores. One of the keepers got very creative and collected feathers, which she tied to the end of a long rope, making a very oversized kitty toy. Unfortunately, this still had no cheetah appeal. While we were making great progress enriching ourselves, the cheetahs were proving much more difficult!
One of our funniest attempts was bringing a “weeble” into the exhibit. A weeble is a large, weighted, plastic cylinder that will rock but will always right itself. Our tigers LOVE the weebles; the cheetahs, not so much! Pombe (pictured with her back to the camera) and Moyo were interested but apprehensive when a keeper hit the weeble to make it move. Etana (pictured facing the camera), on the other hand, HATED the weeble! She would inch forward but when the weeble moved she would jump backwards and hiss! Not only that, but she would associate the very scary weeble with the keeper until you could convince her to forgive you; usually this meant feeding her!
Finally, we found success with a very unlikely toy: several small water buoys were donated to the Park and these were the hit we were waiting for! The keepers brought in several old lunge whips, and the buoys were tied to the ends. The cheetahs couldn’t love a toy more than this! They chase the buoy until they are exhausted; they try to cut corners and anticipate where the buoy will go next. Eventually, all the girls collapse to the ground and, with their last bit of energy, bat at the buoy with one paw as it passes in front of them. The only downside to this enrichment item is that the cheetahs may love it too much! We have already gone through three whips because the girls try to steal the buoy and rip the rope right off the whip while playing a great game of tug-o-war!
Kym Nelson is a keeper at the Wild Animal Park
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October 5th, 2007 at 5:23 am
Kym, thank you for the amusing blog about looking for enrichments for the cheetahs. I wish I could have seen the cheetahs’ interactions with the weeble! So hilarious- you described it well! I especially liked your observation that Etana associated the frightening weeble with the keeper who made it move!
You finally found the perfect enrichment that takes advantage of the cheetah’s ability to run and anticipate movement of the prey (buoy). The sisters are fortunate to have keepers who would not give up until they succeeded in finding the right toy. I can imagine how disappointed you must have felt when the cheetahs ignored your earlier attempts. Busted by the cats! : )
October 5th, 2007 at 8:51 am
Thanks, Kym. It sounds like you found a great ” winner.” Hopefully you can keep up with the ropes and the tug-of-wars that ensue. The tigers are getting great enrichment and exercise. With all the excercise and sleep that are a result of their excitement and activity, they are bound to get VERY HUNGRY. Since they love food, now you have your work cut out for you.
October 6th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Thanks Kym for the great enrichment for me – I laughed so hard. I share my home with three cats, one of whom just wasn’t interested in anything I came up with for him to play with. One day, I took an old shoe lace out of a pair of skates and left it on a table. The next thing I knew, Nick was marching around the house carrying that silly long shoe lace in his mouth, batting at it, sleeping on it, dragging it, completely happy. I spent hours and hours trying to come up with a toy he would love and had just about given up. Thanks for the smiles you brought me. Keep up the good work!
October 10th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
What a funny story — and exhausting for all of you! It’s interesting to read how different the cheetahs are in terms of what stimulates them. Good for you all for persevering and being creative!
October 27th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Good idea! We are always looking for new things for our cheetahs also. We will definately be giving that a try. I’ve put together an enrichment item that works really well with the cheetahs here. We gather up feathers that are left over from the guinea hens that keep flying into the cats enclosure and freeze them for a couple of days – then take some meat (about 1 pound) and shape it into a flat meatball, put into flat dish and then stick the feathers all over the meat so it looks like a guinea hen with no head or feet – then we cover our masterpiece and put in freezer. We take out of freezer after it has frozen and defrost just a little bit but not enough that the feathers will come out and then give it to the cheetahs – they LOVE it. They try to pull the feathers out to get to the meat – just like in the wild.
January 9th, 2009 at 1:50 am
Thanks for the enrichment tips, I am a student and want to become a animal keeper. I am now researching some whays of enrichment. But i am trying this with cheetahs the t are not tame. Som your way would not work with them. And the fake guinea hens are a gread enrichment to. I wonder if you would know some nice metheds to enriche captive cheethas thet are not tame.
March 25th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Thats increible!!! I was think for long time the chetahs i´m keeping are the problem, but not the are only. I´m tried with a lot of things for enrichment, but they…nothing.
Some things are efective for once chance but then… they ignored..
I´ll try with your enrichment. Could you send me or show me a photo of theenrichment?
Thank you very much.
Val