News and Stories

By Cat Ambassador Trainers Emily Myers and Andie Haugen

We are happy to announce that the third sister to Zola and Lulu will be staying here at the Cincinnati Zoo. Her name is Kiara which means “princess” in Swahili. She is perhaps the most bold of the three, and is picking up her training very quickly. She will continue to grow, train and become an ambassador with her sisters here and will one day be a part of the running program where she will reach speeds of up to 70mph! Seeing a cheetah run full speed is something you’ll never forget, and we hope inspires people to want to help save the cheetah. Just like we hope sharing their stories of growing up at the zoo will as well!

The newest members of our Cat Ambassador Program are making huge strides (no pun intended) here at the zoo! The cubs have been living in our hospital’s nursery area, but now have transitioned to living up at the Cat Ambassador Program with the other cheetahs. Staff spent a few nights with them overnight to make sure they were comfortable in the new space with all the different sights, sounds and smells. They did great with the transition to their new home!

They are also experiencing a bigger world these days with “field trips” around the zoo to different indoor areas. It’s a bit too cold for them to be outside yet, but you never know when you’ll catch a glimpse of these three! They are regulars these days in the clubhouse and education building. Introducing the cubs to new areas is a huge part of their training- it’s important for our cheetah ambassadors to be comfortable with various types of environments. The cubs enjoy exploring and smelling everything in their new space, and sometimes they learn about new items they’ve never seen before. Cheetahs are very visual creatures, with their eyes taking up most of the space in their skull, for that reason, the cubs love to get a good look around any new environments they are exposed to. 

Another huge part of our cubs lives is their training. Aside from the more informal training of getting used to a new space, running after toys and each other, they do a few behaviors. Here at the zoo we train our animals using a process called “operant conditioning,” which is a fancy term for positive reinforcement. The cubs do a learned behavior, like sit, and then are rewarded with their favorite food as obligate carnivores- raw meat!!  They have been doing great at their “sit,” “come” and “lie down.” These behaviors are helpful for when our cheetahs start learning to walk on a leash as well. As adults they will travel up to the zoo’s Bowyer running yard and the training now is setting the building blocks for that later! 

The cubs are still spending all of their time together with the exception of meal times and training. In their native range in Africa, they would stay together for about 2 years and then go live independently as females, but here at the zoo they will live together and share space as long as they choose to do so. You may be familiar with our other sister coalition, Cathryn and Willow, who have been living together for almost 9 years!