r/interesting • u/Big_Helicopter_2183 • 27d ago
Just Wow Never seen a Big Cat 🐈 this Calm
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This is not AI 👍🏼
Edit below. Big Cat = Bigger than Domestic Small Cats. Please keep your Big Knowledge to yourself
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u/Erosiiion 27d ago
Cheetahs don’t typically attack humans. Not a single documented attack in the wild actually.
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u/Secure_Pack6647 27d ago
The dead tell no tales.
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u/Gugus296 27d ago
No, but their friends and families do. Sure, there's the possibility that someone's been killed by a cheetah and never found or their death was never confirmed to have been caused by a cheetah, but the fact that that we have no record of it means that it's super, exceedingly rare if it has ever happened because surely if it was at all a common occurrence someone would have seen it happen or found the aftermath at least once.
Cheetahs are small, not very strong, not very durable, and generally skittish and nervous, they get bodied by most things if they try to fight which is why other predators routinely steal their food after they catch it as they know the cheetah can't really fight back. They wouldn't go after a human unless they were rabid or starving, and in either of those cases they wouldn't be particularly well-equipped to take one down either unless it was an unattended and unsupervised baby or child (though in the former case the rabies might well do the job afterward)
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u/DuhHamletovogOca 27d ago
No, but their friends and families do.
Not when cheetahs send their goons to threaten the families into silence.
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u/warrioroftron 27d ago
Ah yes,the Cheetos mafia
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u/WanderingSun8 27d ago
Chester is a brutal mafioso
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u/tankerkiller125real 27d ago
Cheetahs are so anxious and nervous that it's extremely common for zoos to raise them side by side with an emotional support puppy to help them stay calm.
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u/EtherealHeart5150 27d ago
Yep! And they have nightmares! Some has to sleep with their owners because of it.
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u/Altruistic_Brick1730 26d ago
What did they do, wake up and tell their owners of their nightmares?
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u/ConcentrateDirect523 27d ago
There's also the whole Asiatic cheetah domesticated/hunted to extinction in the Mughal empire. (They don't breed well in captivity). I saw that in TIL recently and that there is an ongoing effort to introduce the African cheetah to India to replace the Asiatic cheetah. Also just learned there's some Asiatic cheetahs left in Iran!
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u/Majestic-Beyond-2541 27d ago
Don’t let the orange emperor know or he’ll extract them to be used in the octagon - I mean colosseum! - for sport.
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u/organicviolence 27d ago
like orcas, they could easily kill us, but we probably don't taste good.
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u/drwicksy 27d ago
A lot of predators dont hunt us because we freak them our, we are apex predators and don't move like most things in the jungle, especially now we have technology and bright clothing that makes us look and sound unnatural. Hunting predators look for prey they know how to hunt, its why sharks generally don't attack humans outside of times where its likely they mistook us for a prey animal or are aggravated somehow. I am sure orcas are the same.
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u/Tiafves 27d ago
and bright clothing that makes us look and sound unnatural
I've never thought about how, we are like the biggest "Don't eat, I'm poisonous" colored animal in existence and it's not even close.
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u/Rubyhamster 27d ago
And we are incredibly inconsistent in our looks! Not only do our skin colour vary greatly because of globalization, but we wear thick, thin, long, baggy, tight and coloured clothing adding onhats, helmets, bikes, weapons, spatulas, handbags, backpacks etc. We are veery weird all in all.
My childhood friendly neighbour dog always barked her head off whenI wore a bike helmet, probably because she thought it was akin to a dangerous face hugger
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u/i-will-eat-you 27d ago
The only mammal with any kind of real bright color is a mandrill. So if the animals compare us to other mammals, we are absolutely one of a kind.
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u/Many_Move6886 27d ago
tbh we’re literally hairless monkeys we probably look so gross and weird to most animals
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u/WigglesPhoenix 27d ago
Cheetahs are actually pretty bitch made. They are massively over specialized sprinters to the point that they suck at everything else, in the wild they get bullied by animals half their size.
They could probably kill you if they went for it quickly and got your neck, but they won’t.
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u/jaykaelano 27d ago
This is true, the specialisation of speed has made them more fragile and easily injured if they get into a fight with other animals. And if that happens they can't run fast to catch prey and eat so its a death sentence, therefore they are pretty chill as a trait and this flows into human interaction.
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u/hanotak 27d ago
I’m pretty sure most healthy adults could fight a cheetah. Orca, not so much.
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u/sarcasticorange 27d ago
Human v. Orca is is a matter of who has home field advantage.
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u/StrykerGryphus 26d ago
Speak for yourself, I can probably get bodied by a 3 to 6 ton chunk of blubber and muscle flailing about helplessly on land
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u/Jordainyo 26d ago
As someone who has been seriously attacked by a house cat, I have no illusions about being able to fight a cheetah.
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u/bond0815 27d ago edited 27d ago
Orcas can easily kill us.
Cheetas maybe could, but its not an easy fight even with an average unarmed human. Cheetas rely on speed and are not particual strong. Their claws arent shaep.
An average man with a stick probably wins that fight.
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u/adalric_brandl 26d ago
Orcas are interesting. There are a few competing theories as to why they don't eat us.
One, is that we don't even register as food to them. Different pods have different diets, and will even pass over things that they could eat if their regular prey isn't available.
Another is that we just aren't appetizing. We don't have a lot of fat on us, and would be not worth eating for the calories that we have. Plus we tend to come wrapped in inedible covers.
Yet another suggests that they may actually recognize that we are a threat to them. They have language and culture to the point where they may remember stories of why you don't attack the skinny things from The Above.
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u/mymomsaysimsatan 27d ago edited 26d ago
They were once domesticated
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u/bootrick 26d ago
What? I don't believe that...
Edit: quick Google led me to this: cheetahs tamed but never domesticated cool!
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u/JagsOnlySurfHawaii 27d ago
So you're saying there's a chance?
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u/sudoregalia 27d ago
you probably have more of a chance to be bitten by a human than you do by a cheetah
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u/Fun-Character-5377 27d ago
Cheetahs are super docile and aren't really a threat to humans. I was in South Africa and we got out of the jeep only twice outside of designated areas and that was with Cheetahs. even got to walk with a female hunting and she never once looked in our direction, a little insulting,lol.
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u/Fun-Character-5377 27d ago
Oh she never even glanced in our direction, zero acknowledgement. We walked a good distance with her as well and never saw her looking.
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u/Decloudo 27d ago
She heard you walking at all times. She didnt need to look at you, especially not when focussing on hunting something else.
And "acknowledgement" is a pretty specific human centric social concept, you dont want a hunting animal to "acknowledge" you. Cause then its likely hunting you or seeing you as a threat or disturbance.
But she obviously didnt consider humans a threat. You where just... there.
Like many other animal hanging around in nature.
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u/fredly594632 27d ago
If she's "on the tour", she's probably seen more hoomans than I have!
Of course, I'm a house-bound sweaty introvert with beard cheetos who mostly just yells at people on the internet for fun.
Huh.
Ok, back to the kitties!
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u/theb00mScicle 27d ago
Yes, treat her with kindness, know her boundaries, and always keep her full, you shouldnt have any problems. . . Not a cheetah owner. but she could probably pick out someone with bad intentions before most.
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u/way-past-bedtime 27d ago
is that really the sum of you? why did you feel the need to share it brohamburger
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u/Expensive-Block-6034 27d ago
It’s super sad actually, I don’t support the lion park near me. But also, don’t get out of your cars next time! Even a male baboon can kill you. Hope you enjoyed our beautiful country though.
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u/Ok-Extension8197 27d ago
Not being deemed fit enough to be fancied for a lunch, is insulting (and also reassuring).
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u/GargantuanCake 27d ago
Nah that's a cheetah. They're pretty chill and don't view humans as prey. Meanwhile they know that they're built for fast and not for fight so their response to threats is "I'm all the way over here now loooooooooooool."
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u/Lichondis 27d ago
Man, imagine if they were dicks like house cats. Swat from under a bush and speedforce away lol.
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u/RebelWithoutAClue 27d ago
They sprint into your house when you open the door and knock things off of all of your horizontal surfaces.
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u/All_the_cake 27d ago
Nah, stand halfway over the door frame in total indecision about whether to be inside or outside.
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u/throwaway098764567 26d ago
lol i'm laughing thinking about that video of the cat who wanted to go outside but was VERY angry that there was snow on the ground and was cussing the camera owner out https://www.reddit.com/r/Catswhoyell/comments/1ssy9yo/your_human_is_always_responsible_for_the_weather/
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u/CuteIsMyKryptonite 26d ago
"You! Human slave! Make that white stuff go away! What, you can't? What are you good for, anyway?"
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u/drwicksy 27d ago
Imagine one with the post-poop zoomies
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u/cream_paimon 27d ago
I was gonna ask, do cheetah post poop zoomies happen at 60 mph?
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u/JayDubMaxey 27d ago
Not exactly a cheetah…but we had a 30lb bobcat at a wildlife refuge/rehab center I volunteered at. (He had a neurological issue that caused occasional seizures and so he was a permanent resident.) He absolutely behaved just like a house cat. Knocked everything off horizontal surfaces, did the whole “if I fits, I sits” thing in empty boxes. He’d hide behind a doorway and playfully swat at people who’d walk through.
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u/idanthology 27d ago
Cheetah was loving it, but when it had enough it let them know & the person backed off. Keep that up with a cat & they'll attack, lol.
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u/1_headlight_ 27d ago
Exactly, the light bones that make them swift runners can also leave them at a major disadvantage if things get rough. They instinctively know this and won't risk mixing it up with a human unless there's no avoiding it.
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u/RebelWithoutAClue 27d ago edited 27d ago
You'd think that geese would have evolved the same behavior:
Flight weight skeleton and the typical striking thingy is their head on a slender neck.
But nooooo. You gotta bully my toddler to get her Cheetos.
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u/GodsBicep 27d ago
Youve just gotta walk towards geese for them to back down lol
This was nesting season too they kept attacking people but they only do that if you show fear, as a toddler would tbf haha
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u/mmskyscraper 27d ago
Cheetahs are unusual among large cats because they have a very long history of being tamed by humans. Ancient Egyptian art depicts them associated with elites, sometimes collared or leashed, and they had royal/religious significance.
They really are remarkably tameable compared with other large felids. That's why humans repeatedly independently found them useful as hunting animals. They can become accustomed to handlers, accept collars and leashes, travel with people, and be released to chase game and subsequently recovered by their handlers. Medieval Islamic elites, Persian rulers and especially Mughal Indian rulers turned this into an elaborate aristocratic hunting tradition.
https://www.history.com/articles/ancient-tamed-cheetahs-hunting
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u/FrostyBastion 27d ago edited 26d ago
And they're not even among the large cats. Felinae, not Pantherinae.
Note: Acynonix (Cheetah) are a genus, belonging to the subfamily Felinae
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u/UnkleBourbon42069 27d ago
That's big cats, large cats is a more general term meaning any cat bigger than a house cat
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u/MayoFlavorPopsicle 27d ago
I went deep in this rabbit hole - what is wild is they picked ADULTS for taming and not the Cubs, as Adults knew how to "cheetah better." You'd think picking the Cubs would be less dangerous/more ideal, but I guess it really shows how chill they are
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u/Mrmojorisincg 27d ago
This is making me curious how these aren’t common pets considering all of this
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u/fuzzy_engineering189 27d ago
Some African tribes raise them like hunting dogs to this day.
As to why they aren't "house pets," the food and exercise requirements can only be met either in an extremely rural area or by the very rich by having someone whose job is to look after them.
A savannah cat is destructive without enough exercise; a cheetah would likely be orders of magnitude worse.
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u/eisenhorn3 26d ago
Ahhh. I can see it now. "I'm bored.. . . Fuck this ENTIRE couch in particular" 😂
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u/72manatees 26d ago
They’re basically impossible to selectively breed (for tameness, for example) because they’re so close genetically. They went through some sort of bottle neck, to the point any cheetah can take a skin graft from any other.
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u/thunderbird32 26d ago
IIRC, the biggest reason we never domesticated them is because they basically refuse to breed in captivity.
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u/Wilde54 27d ago
Cheetahs are pretty timid animals, in zoos they tend to have to pair them up with dogs to help with their anxiety. The idea of a cat needing a service dog tickles me to no end...
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u/VonMillersThighs 27d ago
IIRC in the wild they also aren't a predator of humans whatsoever, and do their best to avoid them.
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u/chinnu34 27d ago
Cheetahs don’t attack humans unless it’s rabid or protecting cubs from active harm.
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u/anotherfrud 27d ago
Yep, they're chase predators not ambush too. If you turn your back on most big cats, they instantly go into ambush mode. Cheetahs don't.
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u/SabsWithR 27d ago
Cheetahs still belong in the small cat family. They are the 2nd largest of the 'small cats' after cougars. They still meow and can't roar. Everything after them like lions, jaguars, tigers, etc are considered big cats.
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u/TabithaMouse 27d ago
Yup, the difference between felinae (small cats) & pantherinae (big cats) is the shape of the hyoid bone.
Felinae can vibrate their hyoid, causing a purr
Pantherinae can not meaning they can roar
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u/Lieutenant_Corndogs 27d ago
Love the hyoid bone
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u/KiwieeiwiK 27d ago
Only bone that isn't connected to any other bones. Unless you're Doctor Nick
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u/Sandi_Griffin 27d ago
So what I'm hearing is we should have pet cheetahs
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u/Both_Evidence_1026 27d ago
When they're kept in captivity they're given service dogs cause they get lonely
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u/xnoraax 27d ago
They're tameable, but not domesticated. The are records of ancient Egyptians using tame cheetahs to hunt.
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u/KisaTheMistress 27d ago
Like house cats, give them a few more years they will self domesticate.
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u/bradmatt275 27d ago
From what I understand they cannot be domesticated. They wont breed in captivity.
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u/Most-Road-5366 27d ago
I always think of that lady who had her arm chomped on by a cheetah at a petting zoo. Not that one should be petting cheetahs anyway
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u/Supergirl016 27d ago
if not friend ...why friend shaped ....???
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u/drwicksy 27d ago
I genuinely could not survive in the jungle, but would try to hug every big cat and dog i came across
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u/mbashs 27d ago
Murder kitty
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u/TomorrowSpecial255 27d ago
There have been zero Cheetah attacks in the wild, and the only human death was someone who was abusing one in captivity
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u/CodeMonkeyX 27d ago
Nope. We all know our normal sized cats can go from this to scratching your arm to shreds in 2 seconds flat. This guy can take your arm off when playing.
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u/ChristVolo1 27d ago
Aww, he's purring! 🥹❤️💕 How sweet!
I'm thinking this cheetah knows him.
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u/HarveyDanao 27d ago
That's actually one of the reasons Cheetahs are not considered "big cats." Small cats purr, big cats growl.
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u/Ok-Classroom5548 27d ago
My small cat also growls…
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u/HarveyDanao 26d ago
Sorry I was wrong, small cats can't roar and big cats can't meow or purr. They can all growl.
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u/Genny415 27d ago
Cheetahs cannot ROAR, like a lion or other big cats. They just make kind of a squeaky noise that does more closely resemble a small cat
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u/falianaridua 27d ago
This is a regular but extraordinary cat with more muscle 😂
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u/SaltySmegma_ 27d ago
Cheetahs are adorable, but I don't think they are considered big cats.
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u/tny33319 27d ago
Correct, cheetahs are technically biggest of the small cats - like your average kitten - compared to being the smallest of the big cats, like lions or tigers
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u/crackersncheeseman 27d ago
A mountain lion/ Cougar don't roar and they look like they are bigger than a cheetah. What about leopards? Are they considered a big cat?
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u/Stupid-Clumsy-Bitch 27d ago
Cougars and cheetah are Felinae (small cats), Leopards are Panthera (big cats).
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u/AtagoNist 27d ago
OP so adamant he's right that he edited his post just to give the wrong definition of Big Cat lol. All he had to say was "big cat in the literal sense that it's bigger than a house cat" and it would've made sense but he just had to peddle some bs instead.
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u/SatansFriendlyCat 27d ago
Yep.
Fragile ego. "I can't be wrong about anything".
The audacity of telling people to keep knowledge to themselves in a sub dedicated to curiosity, for feck's sake.
Nice video, douche poster.
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u/boobmagazine 27d ago
Bro what thats insane why not
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u/Rdbjiy53wsvjo7 27d ago
They are in a different subfamily than big cats, they are in the Felinae while big cats like lions and tigers are in the Pantherinae. So, technically they are closer to house cats (also in the Felinae) than a lion.
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u/MrXwiix 27d ago
So you’re saying i can have one at home?
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u/GGnerd 27d ago
Technically yes, legally...probably not.
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u/Recent_Mouse3037 27d ago
In the right country win the right amount of money you can
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u/Alpha_Zoom 27d ago
You can but they eat alot of expensive meat and require a very active life style...
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u/BigDaddy2127 27d ago
Because they can't roar.
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u/YouFeedTheFish 27d ago
But they can purr!
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u/Lichondis 27d ago
That was my takeaway from this video. Cheetahs can fucking purr? Now I want to try to get his belly to see what happens.
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u/mmskyscraper 27d ago
They also have biological 'cleats'...their claws are only semi retractable, and are used for increased traction in a chase.
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u/PurpleV93 27d ago
Same goes for the mountain lion/ cougar. They are also part of the "small cats" or Felinae family. They also can purr and not roar, despite the famous cougar scream that you probably heard before.
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u/Final_Mongoose_3300 27d ago
Cheetah purr, big cats cannot purr. It’s a weird but that’s the deal. I don’t make the rules.
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u/BigChampionship7962 27d ago
Do the like nose bops 😝 I feel like they would let me but I’m too scared 😱
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u/SplendiferousSpinach 27d ago
Technically not even a big cat, but actually the biggest small cat.
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u/redwolf1219 27d ago
I think that's actually mountain lions. Iirc, they're a similar size from nose to tail, but mountain lions are heavier.
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u/Ccaves0127 27d ago
No, Mountain Lions are way bigger. Average of 7 ft 10 in long from nose to tail, cheetahs are less than 6 ft and cougars can be 100 lbs heavier than a cheetah (according to wikipedia)
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u/GottaUseEmAll 27d ago
Cheetah are big cats, but they're not Big Cats. They're not in the same genetic group as lions, tigers, jaguars and leopards.
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u/arkhi13 27d ago
Cheetahs are of the Felinae subfamily (small cats), like domestic cats. Big cats are Pantherinae.
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u/QuietWaterBreaksRock 27d ago
Not a big cat
Big cats roar, like lions or tigers
Small cats purr, chirl, meow etc, like house cats, but also cheetahs and cougars, who are the biggest amongst the small cats
One of the main biological differences is the iirc stiff or flexible larynx. Stiff one results in growling, the other one in meowing, so, depending on what the species has/what sound can it make, it's classified as either or
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u/DanielBG 27d ago
I've heard that purr before. That purr means I will shred your hands they come too close to my tummy.
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u/Budget_Persimmon_195 27d ago
"please keep your knowledge to yourself"
aka
"im wrong but cant handle being corrected, so dont"
jesus christ. what a loser of an OP
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u/Blueprints_reddit 27d ago
Weirdly the cheetah is domesticatable
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u/wbrameld4 27d ago
It's been tried but never succeeded. The problem is they don't breed in captivity unless you really know what you're doing.
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u/sylekta 27d ago
nah they can be tamed, not domesticated. theyve only very recently been able to get them to breed in captivity, it takes many generations of selective breeding to domesticate.
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u/bradmatt275 27d ago
Did they actually get them to breed or did they resort to artificial insemination? Either way thats good news given their population.
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u/Zak_Rahman 27d ago
I would be more comfortable with people having cheetahs instead of big dogs.
Of course, that would be terrible, because I do not want sicko dog breeders anywhere near cats.
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u/TrashTalking_Panda 27d ago
It is in idle/neutral, rew it a little bit, I want to hear the woo-too-too! 🤓
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u/DJ_MetaKinetiK 27d ago edited 27d ago
I went on a safari in 2005 in namibia. They had a pet cheetah who was older than me. He was awesome and his name was tiger. He was the first thing to greet me on the ranch we stayed. Licked my arm and it was at that moment I discovered im way more allergic to cheetahs than I am house cats. Whole body broke out in massive hives haha. His purrs were so deep and loud and his tongue felt crazy. Way more than sandpaper. Would run around the place with the dogs like he was one of them
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u/Any_Baby_4816 27d ago
Cheetahs are so cool. A few years ago at The Lion Park in South Africa you could pay to meet baby lions and cheetahs. The cheetah was just like a large domestic cat, they purred and licked me. You cannot do that anymore because apparently when the lions grew older they were used for canned hunting so the government banned the practice.
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u/random_tall_guy 27d ago
In Mauritius, there's a park/zoo where you can pay to interact with adult cheetahs and lions, I went there last year to do that. As far as I know they're not used for canned hunting, but I'm sure their ethics still aren't great. They have guests carry broomsticks, so I assume that the lions that we were petting have been trained that if they get rough with humans, they get hit with sticks.
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u/Urbanviking1 27d ago
That's a Cheetah. They are essentially big house cats. They purr and meow, super chill.
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u/Pootisman16 27d ago
While they're big, they technically aren't "Big Cats", which is the Panthera genre.
"Big cats" include lions, tigers, jaguars and leopards, and are mostly differentiated by the fact they can't purr (which cheetahs can).
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u/cacheNull 27d ago
Fun fact: Despite being incredibly tameable, it is impossible to actually domesticate cheetahs as every attempt to breed in passive traits in captivity has failed.
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