The sleeping cheetah
Today for some unknown algorithhmic reason, Google thought I’d like this story of a guy in a wildlife preserve sleeping next to a cheetah:
Imagine dozing off under the shade of a tree after a taxing day out in the sun, only to wake up to the gentle nudge of a wild cheetah snuggling against you. This isn’t the start of a fable or a campfire story. It’s what happened to Dolph Volker, a wildlife photographer and animal enthusiast, during one of his volunteering stints at Cheetah Experience, a sanctuary for endangered species in South Africa.
It’s an old story; the guy has a YouTube channel with videos such as this one:
Well, whatever floats your boat. The cheetahs seem pretty tame, but they are nevertheless wild animals and I’ll be taking my siestas somewhere else.
But the reason I’m writing this post is that it stirred up a memory I had pretty much forgotten, which is that as a teenager I very much liked this painting by Henri Rousseau:
I had seen the original many times at MOMA and there was just something about it that appealed to me – the sense of danger and yet safety, the mystery, the fact that the gypsy wouldn’t even have been aware of the visitation come morning, or that perhaps it was all just a dream.
I liked the painting so much that when I became a freshman in college, I bought a large print of it at the college bookstore and hung it over my bed in the dorm. I had a roommate who thought it a rather odd and disquieting choice, but I found it comforting.
I haven’t thought of that painting in many decades until today.
I alway considered that painting kind of mystical — the lion that close to a human without either attacking or running, and the gypsy’s pose not at all reminiscent of how a person would sleep. But still attractive in its mystery.
As for cheetahs, remember they are more closely related to dogs, not cats. I saw aa pair of cheetahs lying on an ant hill in Kenya once, and thought I’d see how close I could get to them. I drove to within about 50 yards, got out of my Land Rover and slowly walked toward them. They watched me closely, but did not appear threatened or threatening, so I kept going until I got close enough to scratch one under its chin, which it appeared to enjoy. I would NOT have done this with a lion or leopard. Had I tried, I would not be writing this right now.
Yeah, I will not be overly surprised if this idiot winds up with the same fate as Timothy Treadwell, detailed quite hilariously, if mean-spiritedly, 20y ago, by Humberto Fontova:
Sings To Grizzlies
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1000639/posts
Then there’s dancer/actress Juliet Prowse, who routinely appeared on shows like Johnny Carson with a big cat in tow. This stopped when one of them, an 80-lb leopard, somehow agitated while being on a show set, mauled her seriously, almost tearing off one of her ears.
People are stupid. Housecats have been modified by years of selective breeding to be instinctively connected to humans and notably less aggressive to humans… and they can still bite and claw the shit out of you if they are annoyed. Big cats have not thus been tamed, and there is a reason they are an alpha predator second only to humans.
Is there an after version of the pic? 😉
I think it’s cool. I’d like to do that. I would, given the opportunity.
Maybe I’ll get the opportunity when Mrs. Otter and I travel to a game reserve in Botswana. Hopefully later this year. We recently came into some money and we’re going to spend it on bucket list trips. After my recent heart-and-kidney issues we’ve decided it’s carpe diem for us all the way. Because you just never know . . .
You guys before me: you got a case of the Mondays. And that was yesterday, mind.
Cheetahs are different. They ARE cats, not dogs, but their claws don’t retract. They also can be domesticated. DNA evidence shows that at one time there were very, very few cheetahs. Ancient Egyptian carvings show nobles hunting with big cats, leopards even.
I once went to a wildlife park in Oregon, I forget the name, where they had several cheetahs who were led around on a leash by the young women zookeepers, and the cheetahs also posed for selfies–with complete strangers. My impression was that they were more mellow than lions and tigers.
Apparently cheetahs are a bit more mellow than their fellow big cats, but I wouldn’t want to sleep next to one.
Come to think of it, I’m not at all keen on sleeping in the same bed with housecats, either. And yet I’ve done it.
You guys before me: you got a case of the Mondays.
IrishOtter49
It happens.
–The Boomtown Rats, “I Don’t Like Mondays (Lyrics)”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3iozCiLKmI
I hate it when it does… I was rather surprised when I looked into this song.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Don't_Like_Mondays
Seems to me Bob Geldof stole a major riff from Bowie’s “Changes.”
but it a wild animal, like siegfried and roy, found out the hard way, its a predator, and you don’t want to be in its food chain,
Last November, I aquired a rescue cat named Peaches, who had been abandoned by the people she had lived with for ten years. She is curled up at the foot of my bed, right now.
If I remember the Siegfried & Roy story, the cat was disturbed by something in the seats and picked up S or R to protect him. But in picking him up, almost killed him. But it wasn’t an attack.
they aren’t pets, just like sharks are not swimming companions, and if you provoke them, the odds you will out run them are not good,
Honey West made ocelots cool for a whole generation. All cheetahs had was Tarzan’s monkey, and Chester the fin de siècle Cheetos eater.
Cheetahs are beautiful. More so than most of the other African cats. Very sleek and fast.
We happened upon two in the Masai Mara in Kenya. They were lying in the road; we drove within ten feet of them before they languidly moseyed off into the brush. Close enough that we could hear their panting.
Our guide explained that most cats in Africa are generally not afraid of men because they aren’t hunted unless the get off the game park lands. Also, they sleep and conserve their energy during the day. Their nights are filled with hunting and eating. For that reason, they are less dangerous when the sun is up.
In “The Flame Trees of Thika”, Elspeth Huxley tells of her pet cheetah, Rupert.
When Elspeth and her parents would drive in their open car, Elspeth would sometimes bring Rupert along, and he would jump out of the car to chase prey, then race back to the car.
A magical childhood in colonial East Africa and a beautiful memoir – well worth the read.
Cheetahs:
the mellowest of fellows, painted somewhat yellow.
Disinclined to bellow; not much into Jell-O.
F has said hello to one – tales he can tell, O!