Thanks to everyone who came out for Enrichment Day! The cheetahs and dogs made a another run with the lure course, one of their favorite activities.
Here’s a shot from the good old days when the cheetahs and dogs ran the course together.
maybe the dogs should get a head start
One of the highlights of SOS Cheetah was the lure course – here you can see some great footage of the world’s fastest land mammal…But first, its never-before-seen footage of the cheetah exhibit’s fastest canine:
The lure course is an important part of our Enrichment Program for the cheetahs and dogs. Not only is it great exercise, its an opportunity for them to exhibit a behavior that they would do in the wild – chasing down prey. Of course the prey in this case is a toy, which they gladly trade for some meat at the end of the run.
no autographs today, please
Name: Tusker (Tusker is the name of a Kenyan beer with a cute elephant on the label. I always thought it would make a great name for a zoo animal, plus it reminds me of my amazing zoo trip to Kenya).
Vital Stats: Tusker is a 2 year old Anatolian Shepherd dog, born in Missouri and came to the zoo at about 12 weeks old. He has several brothers and sisters, including Taji.
Interests: Napping, barking, playing with Taji, visiting his friends around the zoo
Tusker is stubborn and protective, which are true Anatolian traits. He prefers stage presentations to meet and greet encounters so we schedule his appearances accordingly.
Spotlight on Species: Cheetah raised over $800 this weekend for Cheetah Conservation Botswana! Thanks to everyone who came out and saw keeper chats, training demonstrations, enrichment, and our fabulous table of cool cheetah stuff!
someone check the radar gun!
There was so much going on, this is going to take more than one post. Today we’ll focus on one of my favorites, the lure course. This is the same type of device that is used for racing dogs and cheetahs LOVE it. It turns out our dogs love it too – check out these action shots from Carnivore Supervisor Kevin Hodge.
run Taji run!
Did you come by for SOS Cheetah? What was your favorite part?
Come out to the zoo this Saturday to join us for Spotlight on Species (SOS): Cheetahs. SOS is a new event developed by the Houston Zoo Keepers to highlight a the conservation of a particular species at the zoo. Previous events have focused on sifakas and patas monkeys and have been a huge success, raising money for conservation and providing a great opportunity for our guests to get in-depth knowledge about our animals.
The Carnivore staff has big plans, with a day full of keeper chats, training demonstrations, a lure course, and maybe even a meet and greet with Taji the Anatolian Shepherd Dog. We’ll have merchandise for sale (maybe even some original artwork by our cheetahs) with the proceeds benfiting Cheetah Conservation Botswana.
Disclaimer: some of these events will be weather dependent, we don’t ask our animals to do anything strenuous if it is too hot. But don’t worry, we’ll make it worth your time either way. Cheetahs and dogs will definitely be there and so will the staff to answer all your questions.
See you Saturday!
What better way to beat the Houston heat than to watch some great videos about cheetahs and dogs? Time to crank up the AC, make some popcorn and enjoy the show.
This first video stars our very own Kito and Kiburi and includes some fun facts about cheetahs that you always wanted to know.
Next, a great National Geographic video about the Cheetah Conservation Fund and the role of Anatolian Shepherd Dogs in the conservation of cheetahs in Namibia.
Road trip!
In the fall of 2007, Carnivore Supervisor Kevin Hodge and I drove to Missouri to pick up two Anatolian shepherd puppies Tusker and Taji. At 12 weeks old they were already almost too big to carry. As soon as we got on the road, Kevin and I were surprised at their calm demeanor. The only challenge we had on the 12 hour road trip was getting them to wear their collars and leashes.
Anatolian shepherd dogs have been bred for many years to guard livestock. This means they are intelligent and independent dogs, used to making their own decisions. From the perspective of an animal trainer, this means they are stubborn!
wake me up when dinner shows up
Several weeks after the dogs’ arrival, Carnivore Supervisor Sara Riger and Veterinary Technician Kara LaVictoire returned from Florida with 3 day-old cheetah cubs Kito and Kiburi who had been abandoned by their mother. A few weeks later, we began to introduce them to the dogs. If you haven’t already heard the story, I’m sure you are asking “why on earth did they do that?”
When wild cats have to be raised by people in captivity, it is important that they be socialized with another animal growing up and so they are often raised with dogs. Kito and Kiburi were lucky enough to have each other but we had another reason for introducing them to the dogs.
Several years ago, farmers in Namibia were killing cheetahs that preyed on their livestock. The Cheetah Conservation (CCF) facilitated the donation of some Anatolian shepherd dogs to be used to protect the herds from predators in Namibia in the 90’s. Cheetahs are shy by nature and the large size and fierce bark of the dogs would scare them away so the farmers did not shoot them. This project has spread throughout Africa and is also being used by Cheetah Conservation Botswana, a project the Houston Zoo supports. Here at the zoo we wanted to tell this story about how a domestic dog is helping save an endangered cat.
Today the dogs and cheetahs are nearly adults and after over a year of training, they regularly go out together in the zoo for presentations. Since the program is going so well and is so popular we decided to develop another presentation that the dogs, cheetahs and keeper staff could do at the exhibit in the zoo.
I’ll be blogging regularly about our progress so stay tuned!