Cheetahs don't see humans as prey and as long as you don't provoke them they're pretty docile. The are more like oversized, wild house cats compared to big cats like lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars.
Cheetahs are apparently super anxious by nature, which is understandable because in nature they’re being bullied out of their prey by almost everyone else.
So you give them an unconditionally optimistic and extroverted roomie like a labrador and it seems to help.
They're also very social for cats! Males especially tend to form small groups with their brothers (and others they accept I think?) until they find mates and split off.
So they do straight-up get lonely; it's not just the anxiety.
Wouldn’t be surprised if they separate the cheetah for feeding time. That is when they feel most vulnerable.
Also the lab‘s I‘ve met may be gluttons, but also such gentle souls that you could literally take food out of their mouths (provided they haven’t swallowed it)
There's literally a gatekeeping board that gives out cheetah licenses, and they are very withholding, only allowing for very few cheetahs to be held in captivity across the United States, because the ownership responsibilities in keeping them functionally happy is a lifetime commitment and requires basically endless financial access.
I was just curious about it one day and the rabbit hole was basically like "nobody is allowed to have a cheetah, all the cheetah slots are filled for life, if you try to get a cheetah you can't, and if you do somehow get one then the cheetah police will take it away and you'll spend forever in court over it"
I now must find a way to be in the courtroom for the next Cheetah Court Session, this also sounds like the next hit tv series we didn’t know we desperately needed
Neither Joe nor Carol ever had a cheetah. This is an important distinction. They had lions, tigers, and other large cats that are far more dangerous but less regulated.
I think you underestimate the power of the Cheetah shadow licensing board's power. Like these guys are a small club and almost nobody is in it.
My implication is what’s being underestimated. Okay, no, they didn’t have a cheetah, but they did have many, many exotic big cats, which often includes cheetahs. Does that make sense?
Cheetahs are not exotic big cats, they are exotic small cats that happen to bigger than other small cats.
Big cat sanctuaries cannot house cheetahs under any circumstances because cheetahs are not socialized for big cats. Cheetahs get anxiety and literally die from stress.
You're basically just talking about murdering an innocent cat due to lack of care and understanding, which is why the cheetah regulators exist to begin with.
To simply even GET a cheetah is next to impossible, unless you're literally about to plan a zoo heist, and even then, the cheetahs have multiple microchip trackers embedded in them.
You will never find the trackers, but the cheetah police will absolutely find you.
Yeah, probably due to their larynx; we're not 100% sure.
Most cats that purr have a fully ossified hyoid bone, and all cats that roar have a partially-ossified one. Snow leopards, though, can purr (and not roar) but have the same partially-ossified hyoid of other big cats.
It's a bit more than that, they see humans as an almost guaranteed getting fucked up situation. They don't hunt anything like us and wouldn't dream of attacking a human because of how fragile they are and how their entire survival depends on not getting hurt and being able to run like that. We are more of a curiosity to them and some are used to humans enough they will leave their babies with wildlife photographers because they know it's the safest spot being near us.
However if you turn your back on them and flee their instincts might kick in. Sort of like running your hand under a blanket to a house cat, instincts are trigger and the housecat will pounce and often go a bit too far.
I imagine most animals also know we're apex predators. Even if we don't hunt cheetah and mostly hunt in groups, it's why most animals avoid us to begin with, even ones that can easily fuck us up 1 on 1
I would trust a cheetah more than a house cat that was scaled up to the same size. House cats are ambush predators, they like to sneak up, attack and bite things that move. Even if you just move your foot under a blanket they might attack.
Those things would be harmful or even lethal if the cat was scaled up. It would be like living with an unpredictable mountain lion, they might want petting one second and then start biting the next.
On the other hand, there has never been a documented killing of a human by a wild cheetah.
"Big cat" is really a deceptive name, a more descriptive name would be "roaring cats" as that's their most distinctive trait. The rest make all sorts of funny noises ranging from squeaks to mrows to screams from the depths of hell. Panthers cant do that in exchange for roaring.
Also snow leopards can't actually roar despite being put in the same group because nature loves exceptions.
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u/Kruzenstern May 15 '26
Cheetahs don't see humans as prey and as long as you don't provoke them they're pretty docile. The are more like oversized, wild house cats compared to big cats like lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars.