This holiday spell I was amazed at an advert in our local newspaper. It showed a photo of two cheetahs and some raptors, and announced that these animals were being housed at a local nursery..."for buying plants"...and that they were there to do shows.

For the first time businesses have opened their doors and allowed a show of this nature to be offered to the public on their premises and it is now in the equation to make money out of the event. Illovo Nursery opened its doors to an audience every day, twice a day for four weeks....in an unprecedented move to make people more aware of what this animal represents and what it also contributes to our planet. The loss of this regal animal would be enormous, far too serious to even contemplate...We have to make every effort RIGHT NOW, to encourage everyone to assist in the drive to save our wild life and in so doing also make the planet a better place to live. I went to that show, as soon as the weather and work restrictions would allow and I sat, to my surprise and amazement, in a small audience...only 40 people at each show as more would have been too crowded and too noisy... and then there they were...two amazingly beautiful creatures - each on a lead ...and there they came. They were as close to me as I am to this computer writing this article for you. While the handler spoke I was just breathless at the whole idea of being able to see an animal like this in the first place, without it running off because he had seen me and got a fright... but there I was so close..and I could hear them breathe and feel them move past me. These two are twins left by the mother who had died shortly after their birth, and their names hail from the area in which they were found..Seren the girl and Getti, the male......to make up the areas name - Serengetti.

We were told not to touch the animals as this might upset them. I have animals of my own so I understood this. Later, photos taken with the cats in order to raise more funding for the foundation for Cheetah, and even though we had been told not to touch, the male cat leaned right up against my side and...I patted him in complete breathless admiration. I didn't feel any fear. All I felt was complete awe for this graceful spectacular cat. Remarkably slim and long-legged, this creature has a deep chest, an incredibly slim waist ...a waist in fact which most womenfolk would be in total awe of, let alone posses for themselves. Having touched the animal, I was amazed to discover that what appears on site to be soft and glossy, the fur of a cheetah is in fact, course and rough to the hand. The pattern of its coat allows it to hunt within a camouflage that almost obscures him from the prey. Set in a smallish head, its eyes are high set with black tear marks that stream down the sides of his face, along the nose line and this raised area keeps the sun out of his eyes to aid him while he is stalking and seeing over a long distance. The average weight of a cheetah, who only reached my knee height, is around 88kg and it is pretty difficult to tell the animals apart and also to sex them as they have such similarity. Compared to the leopard, the cheetah is shorted bodied and he has a longer tail and is far more stream-lined as well. The cheetah's claws are semi retractable and aid him when he is in pursuit and only lacks the sheath found in all other cat species.

The cheetah on close inspection and by comparison with the rest of the cat species, has very large nostrils and an enlarged heart and lungs that work together to circulate oxygen efficiently to enable the cat to travel over distance at an incredible speed, and during a typical chase its respiratory rate increases from 60 to 150 breaths per minute....which is incredible to comprehend. That long tail enables the cat to balance whilst running at top pace and also assists him with pace and steering and correction, when making the sharp turns he makes when following small prey that tend to zig-zag at high speed in many directions seemingly, simultaneously. The ability to be able to correct whilst at high speed, means that he can overtake and subdue most of his prey successfully.

Most big cats and this includes lions, do not purr. The cheetah purrs as he takes in breath. When he is content he can be heard purring from quite a distance and whilst patting this cheetah that I was lucky enough to be at such close quarters with, I couldn't miss the deep purring resonating sound he and his sister made. The impact of this is really a fantastic experience and one I won't forget - ever!! The cheetah is often mistaken for a leopard but its clear tear-duct markings and very long tail and slim small build are the strongest characteristics that set him apart from other cat species. Recently zoos and private owners have had some success in rearing these cats, and this is due to new and more advanced knowledge and chemistry. Once widely seen on all the plateaux of Africa, it became a widely, easy to hunt down creature, which was prized for its fur for clothing. Unfortunately the African people also use parts of the cats...fur bones innards and so on- in their witchcraft rituals. The cheetah has become endangered due to poor practice, lack of knowledge and thinning of habitat, with farms and buildings cropping up everywhere. People and lack of common sense are responsible for the dwindling numbers of this fantastic animal. We need to now turn things around before it's too late. There are many ways in which you, as a reader, can help to save the animal...contact any SPCA. They will have details on a local aid company.

The Cheetah Conservation Foundation was set up in 1993 for cheetah protection. It is based in South Africa. The importance of the conservation of the cheetah cannot be denied. To keep these animals in mind, we will run subsequent articles in the Costa Cálida Chronicle.

In a couple of months...more on the cheetah ...genetics, morphs, habitat, followed by diet hunting etc.