cheetah and lion whisperers

April 24, 2011 6:35 PM

Cheetah woman - lion man, big cat whisperers.

Part of the Pride by Kevin Richardson the Lion Whisperer. His website.

I think the blonde in the cheetah vid may be Annie Beckhelling, founder of Cheetah Outreach

What she says (translated back from the French dubbing):

1:31 If I kneel down, they will come towards me because I'm the same size as them.
1:50 I do this to show you how cowardly they are, not to tease them, but also to raise my own adrenaline. As soon as you turn around, they attack you. If you try to make eye contact, they get scared of you.
2:08 If you run, you're prey. As soon as you turn around, they're scared, they stop.
2:47 I think they've had enough, they're too scared of me.

posted by nickyskye (11 comments total)

So, what I'm gonna do is sneak up on it and jam my thumb in its butthole...
posted by Huck500 at 7:13 PM on April 24, 2011

I'm having Grizzly Man flash backs.
posted by Brocktoon at 7:16 PM on April 24, 2011

Yeah, cheetahs only weigh about 110 lbs, and there are only 10-15 of them, what could possibly go wrong?
posted by Huck500 at 7:20 PM on April 24, 2011

When she dropped her shoe they all came over like she had just fed them some food. This made me a little suspicious.

I've heard that one of the reasons cheetah's can run fast is that they have relatively weak, hollow, and very light bones. Because of this they don't attack standing prey, even if a deer was standing right next to them. Instead they chase fast running prey, then trip it. When it falls, then they bite it in the neck. If it isn't running, they can't trip it.

She jumped back when it looked like they were pouncing too close, but then she always stopped, which always stopped the cheetah
posted by eye of newt at 7:23 PM on April 24, 2011

Funny. When I posted the cheetah woman link a few days ago, the FPP got deleted. Glad to see it stay this time, it's an awesome link.
posted by VikingSword at 8:13 PM on April 24, 2011

I love cats, and am in awe of big cats. They're so.... dangerous.

I think the scene from Manhunter (the first movie version of Red Dragon) where the villain takes the blind woman to the zoo and gets her to pet the tiger who is under anesthetic for some procedure is one of the most powerful moments in cinema I've ever seen. But then, I love that movie on a zillion levels.
posted by hippybear at 8:23 PM on April 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

This woman is a fool. Those animals need to know that if they see anything that looks remotely like that upright baboon, they need to get far, far away. The next one might have a rifle.

I've come to the conclusion that these actions, like the actions of the grizzly man, are a harmful self indulgence.

What's going to happen if these animals encounter a child?
posted by Trochanter at 9:40 PM on April 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

My heart, it aches. I love the kitty porn, it is certain. But the cheetah thing was painful. It's early, my sound was still off, and it just seemed the lady was being mean to the nice kitties.

Cats is cats, except some are more cats than others. Cheetahs rank quite high on the cat scale, seeing as they purr. But purring or not, they are cats, and so they would be thankful if you scratch them just so, before they dine on your liver. But of course, if you are really nice, they may decide to keep you awhile, instead.

That happens with cats a lot, once they learn to appreciate what hands can do--And I don't mean opening cans! Touch them right, they'll feel like kittens again, all safe and cared for by momma, and they relax. They like that.
posted by Goofyy at 9:43 PM on April 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

But purring or not, they are cats, and so they would be thankful if you scratch them just so, before they dine on your liver. But of course, if you are really nice, they may decide to keep you awhile, instead.

Change a couple of words and you could crosspost this to the open Cthulhu thread.
posted by hippybear at 10:47 PM on April 24, 2011

So we may conclude that Lovecraft understood cats!
posted by Goofyy at 5:28 AM on April 25, 2011

So we may conclude that Lovecraft understood cats!

Indeed he did.

This is the first paragraph of The Cats of Ulthar by H. P. Lovecraft:

"It is said that in Ulthar, which lies beyond the river Skai, no man may kill a cat; and this I can verily believe as I gaze upon him who sitteth purring before the fire. For the cat is cryptic, and close to strange things which men cannot see. He is the soul of antique Aegyptus, and bearer of tales from forgotten cities in Meroë and Ophir. He is the kin of the jungle’s lords, and heir to the secrets of hoary and sinister Africa. The Sphinx is his cousin, and he speaks her language; but he is more ancient than the Sphinx, and remembers that which she hath forgotten."

This short story takes less than five minutes to read but should leave you "sonorous with purring content."

From Cats and Dogs also by H. P. Lovecraft:

"Dogs are the hieroglyphs of blind emotion, inferiority, servile attachment, and gregariousness—the attributes of commonplace, stupidly passionate, and intellectually and imaginatively undeveloped men. Cats are the runes of beauty, invincibility, wonder, pride, freedom, coldness, self-sufficiency, and dainty individuality—the qualities of sensitive, enlightened, mentally developed, pagan, cynical, poetic, philosophic, dispassionate, reserved, independent, Nietzschean, unbroken, civilised, master-class men. The dog is a peasant and the cat is a gentleman...

"...Altogether, we may see that the dog appeals to those primitive emotional souls whose chief demands on the universe are for meaningless affection, aimless companionship, and flattering attention and subservience; whilst the cat reigns among those more contemplative and imaginative spirits who ask of the universe only the objective sight of poignant, ethereal beauty and the animate symbolisation of Nature’s bland, relentless, reposeful, unhurried, and impersonal order and sufficiency. The dog gives, but the cat is."

I'm a dog person but this beautiful treatise helped me understand appreciate cats.

If you're a cat person, you already know what he has to say but the way he says it is masterful and may provide some ammunition for your next cats versus dogs debate.
posted by stringbean at 8:20 AM on April 25, 2011 [6 favorites]