Kitty

[owlmoose]

I just saw a cheetah. Brought in to model for a life drawing class. Gorgeous animal. His trainers talked about him, and cheetahs generally, while he just sat placidly up on the stage and purred. And purred and purred and purred. Really loudly. Beautiful, and calming.

They brought a mountain lion, too, and a Siberian lynx. But I couldn't stay long enough to see them all. But apparenly the big cat rescue people bring them once each quarter, so maybe I'll get another chance. I hope so.

Comments

E

[kunstarniki.livejournal.com]

I think I remember being told that cheetahs are the only felines which cannot retract their claws. Don't take that for gospel without checking; it's just a lingering memory in my mind. They do have the most elegant tuck up of any cat I know. ☺

Re: E

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

You're right about the claws -- it's one of the things the trainers mentioned. Other fun facts about cheetahs: they're the only cats that hunt by day; they need to rest for 20 minutes after putting on a burst of speed; 8 out of 10 baby cheetahs are killed by lions looking to remove the competition, even though they hunt completely different prey; after the last Ice Age, there were only a dozen or so cheetahs left alive, so the cheetah population has very little genetic diversity and is highly susceptable to disease. Fascinating stuff.

[furitaurus.livejournal.com]

I think all big cats are gorgeous. My favourite is the Ocelot. A beautiful animal.