ZKnown to be the fastest mammal on the land (they can reach 60 or 70 miles per hour!) and the big cats of the world, cheetahs are undoubtedly one of the most majestic animals ever created.
Despite their big body structures and incredible speed, cheetahs are actually sensitive beings.
Cheetahs get anxious that they do not know how to communicate with other cheetahs, preventing them to procreate and mate with others. Though it sounds like a simple problem of socialization, many experts believe this is an important matter to address, especially since cheetahs are listed close to extinction as reported by National Geographic.
The first cheetah-pup friendship made headlines back in 2015. Kumbali, the cheetah, and Kago, the yellow Labrador Retriever, became best friends after experts from the Metro Richmond Zoo in Virginia saw the need to provide Kumbali and perfect companion.
NatGeo reported that male cheetahs tend to be “solitary and territorial, but often they’ll group together with other males for support.”
Because of the success of Kumbali and Kago’s relationship, other zoos began raising puppies and cheetah kittens together to help the big cats decrease stress and control their wild energy.
“It’s a love story of one species helping another species survive,” Jack Grishman, vice president of animal collections at the St. Louis Zoo and species survival plan coordinator for cheetahs in North America, told Bored Panda.
Janet Rose-Hinostroza, animal training supervisor at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, explained that a dominant dog perfectly pairs with African animals (like cheetahs), who are known to be shy, instinctively.
This serves to be true, especially because most zoos select rescued mutts or pure Labradors or German Shepherds, who are calming and tolerant of the cheetahs’ aggressive behavior.
