Cheetahs Are So Shy That Zoos Give Them Their Own Emotional “Support Dogs”

Authored by boredpanda.com and submitted by DebjitHore

While cheetahs might look like majestic and dangerous beasts, actually, they are very nervous beings. They get so anxious, they don’t know how to socialize with each other and get too stressed to have sex. That’s why they needed help as they’re becoming extinct – and the solution came in the most unexpected form…

Seeing that cheetahs need some assistance, for years now zoo keepers have been assigning these animals their very own… emotional support dogs. “It’s a love story of one species helping another species survive,” said Jack Grisham, vice president of animal collections at the St. Louis Zoo and species survival plan coordinator for cheetahs in North America.

“A dominant dog is very helpful because cheetahs are quite shy instinctively, and you can’t breed that out of them,” explains Janet Rose-Hinostroza, animal training supervisor at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. “When you pair them [cheetahs with dogs], the cheetah looks to the dog for cues and learns to model their behavior. It’s about getting them to read that calm, happy-go-lucky vibe from the dog” – and that helps them be more confident and willing to get it on.

That’s right, cheetahs, learn from the doggies and procreate!

emo_skewer on June 29th, 2018 at 12:08 UTC »

I was at the San Diego zoo awhile back and they let the support dogs out into the cheetah enclosure to play. Too much cute to handle.

Edit: more info for those curious. Thanks u/djc6535

https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/8urlej/comment/e1i3cpf?st=JJ07QOZA&sh=60a9559a

Sumit316 on June 29th, 2018 at 11:44 UTC »

they don’t know how to socialize with each other and get too stressed to have sex.

Me irl

AaronSarm on June 29th, 2018 at 09:22 UTC »

They typically rescue dogs from kill shelters for this purpose, which is pretty cool.