For decades, certain zoos have been pairing cheetah cubs with some unique adoptive siblings: dogs. These dogs help the cheetahs gain confidence and increase their chances of reproduction.
It is commonly known that dogs are man’s best friend and their company has a therapeutic effect. Therapy dogs are present in programs for children with difficulty relating to others, as well as in rehabilitation programs in prisons. They not only make good friends with people but also often get along well with other domestic animals. But can they become “friends” with wild animals?
Surprisingly, dogs have also proven to be the best friend of cheetahs. For several decades now, some zoos have been pairing cheetah cubs with dogs who have also had trouble socializing. The dogs help the cubs gain confidence, learn how to behave in a group, and increase the chances of successful reproduction for the felines.
This idea began in 1976 out of necessity in a wildlife park in the United States and was so successful that several zoos adopted it for their cheetah breeding programs.
The heartwarming story of an unlikely friendship between two different species began in 1976 in Winston, a small town in Oregon where the Wildlife Safari wildlife park is located. Laurie Marker, then responsible for conservation programs, faced a problem when she took in a cheetah cub named Khayam. Being an only child, he lacked a companion to learn how to interact, and there were no other cubs his age that could adopt him as a brother.
To solve this issue, Dr. Marker decided to try a different species and enlisted a Labrador puppy named Shesho. Among African big cats, cheetahs are the closest to cats, so if a dog and a cat can be friends, there was at least a possibility that it could also work with a cheetah. As expected, Khayam and Shesho hit it off right away and grew up together as brothers, unaware that they belonged to such different species.
As Dr. Marker noticed that Shesho’s presence seemed to bring Khayam tranquility and security, she suggested to the San Diego Zoo that they provide a canine companion to one of their cheetah cubs, and the pair worked again. Since then, other zoos have successfully experimented with this union.
So, what is the secret behind this strange friendship? It lies precisely in the differences between the character of each species. Cheetahs are shy animals and, unlike lions who are born into a pride, they learn to socialize with their own kind by playing with their siblings. Without this figure, they have no one to develop their social behavior, which can cause problems in adulthood. Cheetahs are solitary animals that do not usually live in groups in the wild, except for a mother and her cubs or a group of young males, usually brothers, who form coalitions to hunt together. However, in a confined space like a zoo or wildlife park, they are forced to share a small space with other individuals, which is an unnatural situation that often causes them a lot of stress. If they have not had proper socialization, this can lead to anxiety and aggression issues. Additionally, these individuals show little interest in mating, and in some cases, mothers may neglect their cubs. This is particularly problematic in threatened species like cheetahs, where breeding is a fundamental objective of conservation programs.