Calling Cheetahs
Posted at 9:54 am March 11, 2009 by Fred Bercovitch
Some sounds soothe. Some sounds annoy. And some sounds stimulate sexual behavior, like in cheetahs. And we have a new baby cheetah as a result of our conservation bioacoustics program.
Breeding cheetahs is a challenge, because the females do not show any obvious behaviors revealing their reproductive state. But when males sniff areas where female cheetahs have been, they sometimes utter a unique call: the stutterbark. Males will emit this call again and again and again while they pace their enclosure and check out the female cheetahs in the nearby enclosures. When the females hear the calls, they don’t respond at first. But when they hear some of the males call, it seems to trigger their hormone system and turn on some special behaviors.
Listen to a male’s stutterbark [audio:http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/sounds/cheetah_stutterbark.mp3]
So, Matt Anderson, San Diego Zoo Conservation Research Behavioral Biology Division, used some software to create a brand-new stutterbark that he played to the cheetahs at the Zoo’s Wild Animal Park research area. After hearing the sound of this “new male,” one of the cheetahs, Kenya, became very, very excited. She started rolling to-and-fro in the grass on her back, lifted up her tail tip and wagged it, and seemed to be checking out the male cheetahs nearby. When she was placed with a male named Quando, the two of them proceeded to mate. This was good news and the first time that cheetah breeding had resulted from using a sound recording.
Afterwards, Kenya’s poop samples were regularly checked for specific hormones by Corinne Pisacane, Behavioral Biology, to see if she was pregnant. Cheetahs are pregnant for about three months, and it looked like the breeding took. With bated breath we monitored her reproductive state and hoped for a new cheetah cub or a litter of cubs, since cheetahs often have three to four babies at a time.
Kenya did not disappoint us. She produced a daughter, but because it was only a single baby, and her first cub, caretaking was a bit of a problem. So the baby was brought to the Park’s Animal Care Center and will be incorporated into our cheetah education program. For now, if you want to see the baby, she is at the Wild Animal Park under the watchful care and supervision of the staff to make sure that she grows and develops into a healthy cheetah.
Fred Bercovitch is head of Behavioral Biology at San Diego Zoo Conservation Research.
Read a blog from Matt Anderson about our researchers’ acoustic studies, Rainy Days in Sensory Ecology Lab.
Read a previous blog about Quando and his brother, Quint, Cheetahs: Home Sweet Home.
Read Fred’s previous blog, The Koala in the Hat.
More images of the cheetah cub can be seen in What’s New?
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March 11th, 2009 at 11:49 am
so its not that unusual that mother cheetah will produce only one baby? thanks for the story and congratulation! I wish I could visit..
March 11th, 2009 at 11:52 am
what a beautiful baby girl cheetah! how surprising that it was only a single birth. I take it that the mother didn’t want to, or couldn’t take care of this baby? too bad!!! was it the first time birth for the female?
hopefully everything will go ok for the humans raising this baby. best of luck. keep us up-dated as to your progress please!
March 11th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Thank you so much for posting the males stutterbark — I have long wanted to hear it. What a beauty the cub is! I can hardly wait to see her.
March 12th, 2009 at 7:21 am
The pictures you posted in the “What’s New” section are wonderful. I love how the underside of the cheetah’s coat is in contrast to the lighter color of her spotted back. She is beautiful.
Thank you for sharing the stutterbark recording. It’s interesting that the “manufactured” stutterbark piqued Kenya’s interest and that it went unnoticed (by her) that the male she mated with was not the possessor of the stutterbark that got her interested. As I read the story, I was half expecting that she would catch on and refuse to mate. When I read all the blog posts here, I am amazed by the integration of technology and conservation. Everyone at SDZ does a phenomenal job.
March 12th, 2009 at 8:39 am
When was the baby cheetah born? Does she have a name yet and where at the Wild Animal Park can we see her?
Moderator’s note: The cheetah cub was born Feb. 18. She does not have a name yet, but can be seen daily in the Park’s Animal Care Center, located in Nairobi Village. she is too cute for words!
March 12th, 2009 at 9:02 am
Is the baby at the WAP Nursery so we can see her?
Moderator’s note: Yes she is. She has already doubled in size and can often be seen romping in one of the Animal Care Center’s pens. Be sure to visit before she gets too big for the nursery!
March 14th, 2009 at 10:52 am
WOW! What an amazing event it has been! Congratulations Kenya!
Do we know what the cub will be named?
Moderator’s note: Not yet.
March 25th, 2009 at 8:08 am
Where will she be once she is to big for the nursery? Any chance she’ll be on exhibit in the future?
Moderator’s note: We hope to train her to become a cheetah ambassador, so she would live in an off-exhibit compound with our other animal ambassadors.
March 26th, 2009 at 8:09 am
Thanks for the response. I was wondering when she is removed from the nursery to on off exhibit compound would she be able to be seen during the ride on the wild side tour?
Moderator’s note: The cub will stay in the nursery until her last set of vaccinations (at about 16 weeks of age) and then she’ll go to live in our Wildlife Education Compound, an off-exhibit area. The Ride on the Wild Side tour includes a visit to the bedroom area of the cheetahs living in the Park’s Heart of Africa habitat. Keepers report that the little cub continues to grow and thrive!
March 28th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
I finally saw the cheetah cub today and she was too cute for words! I was wondering about her actual date of birth though. I was told originally it was February 18th but the sign in front of the nursery said she was born February 19th. Which one is correct? Also, do you happen to know the names of the cheetahs on exhibit? I know they are sisters but was unable to find out their names today.
Moderator’s note: The cub was born on Feb 18; the sign had a typo! The cheetahs on exhibit in Heart of Africa are the three hand-raised females born in 2005. Their names are Pombe, Etana, and Moyo. Read more about them here: http://www.sandiegozoo.org/wordpress/default/how-to-spot-a-cheetah/
April 7th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Does the cub have a name yet?
Moderator’s note: Her name is Amara, Swahili for “grace.”
April 16th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Bated breath. Not baited breath. : )
Moderator’s note: Thank you, Gonzo. Change has been made. The moderator has learned something today
April 26th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
I saw the cub early March, she was sleeping soundly in the incubator, just too precious!!!
April 28th, 2009 at 9:38 am
When will you be posting new pictures of the little cheetah girl, and does she have a name yet? She looks like a Sophia to me.
Moderator’s note: See comment #11 for her name.
July 12th, 2009 at 1:04 am
It’s great to see Amara is growing into a strong, healthy cat. I saw her in April on my birthday and it was wonderful. I’m curious. How come nothing has been written about the 3 kittens born this summer? I can’t even find an online article about it. Everything is on Amara. Were they not born at WAP?
Moderator’s note: The three newest cheetah cubs came to the Wild Animal Park from another facility. We’ll see if we can get some photos to post. They are very cute!
July 12th, 2009 at 8:16 am
I heard that Amara’s mother had another single cub. Is this true and is she with her mother or in the nursery?
Autumn Nelson, Animal Care Manager, responds: Yes, Amara’s mother, Kenya, delivered another single cub. She was pulled for hand rearing as cheetah mothers eventually reject singletons. The cub is being hand-raised at the nursery and is slowly being introduced to the three older cheetah cubs for socialization purposes. While those cubs are being raised to be ambassadors in our Behavior Department, our long-term plan for the newest cub is to return her to the Wild Animal Park’s cheetah research station for breeding.
July 28th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Do cheetahs female need to mate (copulate) several times to produce a multiple birth or is one time enough? Any way it is way out there what you all have accomplished. CONGRATS! I’m a fan of cats, well all animals, b ut cats hold a very special place.
Fred responds: Cheetahs might only mate one time and produce a litter with lots of cubs or mate more than once and produce a litter of only one cub. We don’t know what goes on inside the female, but information from field studies has shown that the cubs born within a single litter might have more than one dad! In that case, cheetahs are not only mating more than one time, but mating with more than one male!
August 1st, 2009 at 3:58 pm
We plan to visit the Park after 4 p.m. on Sunday, August 2nd. Will we be able to see the cubs in the nursery after 4 p.m.?
Moderator’s note: They live in the nursery right now, so you should be able to see them.
August 4th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
I have been able to see the four newest cheetah cubs at the Park and love every one of them. I heard the three siblings now have names. Can you please tell me what they are?
Moderator’s note: Three cubs – a male named Shiley (shy-lee) and two females named Taraji (ta-ra-jee) and Johari (jo-ha-ree) – were born on May 24. On June 17, a single female cheetah named Lindiwe (lynn-de-wee), was born. All are extremely cute! We have new photos of them in our What’s New? section at http://www.sandiegozoo.org/whatsnew/ and video at http://www.sandiegozoo.org/videos/?bcpid=4552241001&bclid=5171891001&bctid=31502651001
August 26th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
How much longer will the four cheetah cubs be in the nursery at the Wild Animal Park?
Moderator’s note: The three older ones are moving out Sept 8. The younger one may be there a bit longer than that, but we’re not sure how long.
August 29th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
We saw Amara on one of her first ambassador training outings in early June and would love to know the name of her dog companion.
Moderator’s note: His name is Hopper and he is an Anatolian shepherd.
October 26th, 2009 at 8:09 am
its really cool how a cheeatha sounds
i thought nthey sound like lions but
they really don’tbecause each
cat has a there own body
cultral ,thanks bye
jada