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The Big Cats' Cradle
Tumai, a female cheetah, is one of the first residents of the National Zoo's new Cheetah Science Center in Front Royal, Va.
(By Tracy A. Woodward -- The Washington Post)
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"Females are quite choosy," said Adrienne Crosier, a zoo research associate who has studied cheetahs in Namibia.
Cheetahs are said to be able to accelerate from zero to 60 mph in seconds. Their claws don't fully retract, which provides extra traction, and the long black "tear" streaks below their eyes cut down on sun glare, the scientists said.
But they also do a lot of lounging around.
"They're so laid back, these two," Crosier said, Zazi in particular. "She's used to Connecticut Avenue" -- the National Zoo's address in Woodley Park in Northwest Washington.
Cheetahs are so generally relaxed that they can be domesticated, Crosier said, and are sometimes used as guard animals in Namibia.
On Thursday, she and Lang, long poles in hand, entered Zazi's enclosure to show how the cheetah can be herded.
"Even though they're considered one of the big cats, this is a species that we feel comfortable with in terms of our staff working," Wildt said, "as long as they have at least two people in the yard at a given time."
Crosier noted: "We don't do this with lions and tigers."
She and Lang entered cautiously.
"No running!" Crosier called out. "No bending down!"
Bending down makes a person look more prey-size, she said.
"We'll keep a certain distance, a flight distance," Lang said. "And she'll just keep walking. She won't turn. She won't hiss and growl at us. She won't run. That's the norm."
Wildt watched intently. "I just want to make sure they're okay," he said.
They were. Zazi warily moved away from the curators as they maneuvered her around the yard, and when they left she headed back to the shade.
The fall afternoon was advancing. Dinner would be served soon: a kind of beef mash that looks like liverwurst. Then nightfall. Real nightfall. Not like the city. Here, it got truly dark. Just like the dark in the wild.
