Animal Diaries Archive

Having fun in the Tiger Temple!

30 June 2006

Our cheetahs have settled into the Tiger Temple very well over the last year. They have heaps of fun running flat-out downhill on the 80-metre stretch, tapping ankles and trying to trip each other as they pass.

As you may have read in previous articles, we have had the cheetahs swimming in the pool in the Temple! This may be the only place in the world that you can view such an amazing achievement with the aid of underwater viewing.

Because the males and females are reaching their sexual maturity, they have been giving one another a hard time. Since they have been showing more interest in each other there is no “alone time" for the cats to relax. Due to this we have only been taking the girls onto the Temple in the past few weeks. They seem to really be enjoying the spotlight and the time away from the boys. When the girls are completely sexually mature we will be encouraging them to breed with the males. This will be amazing if the Zoo is successful at breeding cheetahs, as they are very difficult to breed into captivity. We believe the girls will reach their maturity within the next six months... so stay tuned. There may be some cubs running around in the nea future!