Animal Diaries Archive

Cheetah School - Class 101

3 June 2005

Over the past week the cheetahs have started their schooling. Their first day was filled with anticipation and excitement. The girls couldn't wait to get involved and learn, amazing the teachers with every step of progress. However the boys were much happier sitting at the back of the classroom ignoring everything else that was going on around them.

First class was station training. This is where the teacher asks the cheetah to jump up onto the table or rock. They need to have all 4 legs on the station and then sit down. They then are rewarded with a meat treat. The girls switched on to the easily rewarded task and were pushing each other out of the way to get to the station. Then there was Echo. Once he watched the girls complete the take a few times, he tried as well. Being the fiery Echo we have all become to know, he was quite happy telling the teachers when he should get his reward. Frustrated that he wasn't winning, he slowly walked away curiously looking back every now and then. And then there was Foxy. We all know that Foxy is very lazy and loves to lay down, so station training was just too much effort for him.

Second class was milk training. This is where the teacher holds up a small carton of milk and asks the cheetah to stand up resting its front legs on the teacher's shoulder/arm, lapping milk from the carton. This is called a rise. Once again the girls proved themselves as "A" students. Cleo was the star performer at rises. However Sheeba was much better at doing sit-ups. This is where the cheetah rests their back feet on the ground in a sitting position instead of standing up. Sheeba became quite possessive over the milk, and woudln't stop until the milk was finished. Echo was great at milk training too. Often jumping up on the teacher with all his weight eager to get into it. Foxy even surprised us by getting up a couple of time to join in on milk training.

So, the first day of learning for the cheetahs is now over. They were so exhausted they slept under a bamboo tree the rest of the day, until we do it again tomorrow.

Until next time…cheetahs rule.