News and Stories

By keepers Emily Myers and Andie Haugen

It’s been a long time coming…..the cheetah girls are moving onto their next era, training to run in the cheetah encounter! Are you ready for it?!

August may be slipping away, but cheetah cubs Zola, Lulu and Kiara got in their getaway car (a special transport van for the cheetahs) to move from the cheetah habitat yard up to the Cheetah Encounter running yard. This is a new blank space for their training and although we wish they would never grow up, they are almost 10 months old now and around 55 pounds. Soon they’ll make the whole place shimmer with their speed as they start training for their best impression of the bolter, aka running on our lure system.

This has been part of our wildest dreams for more than a fortnight to have them running for guests. Seeing a cheetah run truly is timeless and we love that people can see sparks fly when our cheetahs run at the zoo!  It hits different every time a cheetah runs and never ever ever gets old, like, ever. Our older cheetahs know the running system all too well, but it does take some training for the younger ones to get the hang of it. They will start doing short runs in our large yard to get used to running after the lure and to build up their strength and stamina, but they won’t be out of the woods right away as with everything, we go at the cheetahs pace and make sure they are having the time of their lives learning a new behavior. People will often say can I ask you a question? How do you train the cheetahs to run? It’s mostly instinct! When cheetahs see something small and fluffy speeding through the yard, they will be more than happy to chase it, karma is a cat after all.

Cheetahs are very visual animals and we bet they are thinking, “I can see you” when they chase after that lure as they can see for 2-3 miles in perfect detail! This is great for them while they’re running, but oftentimes it means that they can get spooked by things that are unusual to them until those things become nothing new. The cubs are pretty confident though at this point and tend to shake it off pretty easily! Once they feel safe and sound in the yard and running on the system, we can increase the speed and duration of their runs and it will be like driving a new Maserati down a dead end street, faster than the wind!

Nothing can ruin the friendship between these cubs! Zola, Lulu, and Kiara all still enjoy spending time together. While cheetahs are generally solitary animals, these girls are likely thinking, “I want to hang out with you, for my whole life.” Currently we have an older coalition of 9-year-old cheetahs that have lived their entire lives together because life was a willow and Cathryn loves spending time with her sister, Willow. You’re on your own, kid for eating, running, and training but they will be getting back together after.

Watching the cubs grow and learn has had their trainers thinking “remember this moment, in the back of my mind.” Even though we see them every day it’s always enchanting to spend time with these special cubs! Before we know it it will be autumn, with leaves falling down like pieces into place, and the cubs will turn one year old on November 3!

We know our cheetahs never go out of style and we bet you think about them! The cubs are not out on any specific schedule, but check the Cincinnati Zoo website for scheduled encounter times. And that’s show business!