Cheetahs: The Purring Polka-Dotted Predator

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Ruby, When azis World, Marco went and This is Amazing Wildlife, where we explore unique stories of wildlife from around the world and uncover fascinating animal facts.

00:00:19
Speaker 2: This podcast is in production with Iheartradios, Ruby Studio and San Diego Zoo Wild lefl Alliance, an international nonprofit conservation organization which oversees the San Diego Zoo and the Safari Park.

00:00:33
Speaker 3: Okay, friend, so I have a joke for you to get things started. You ready for this?

00:00:36
Speaker 4: I'm ready?

00:00:37
Speaker 3: Okay, all right? So why don't you play cards in the jungle?

00:00:41
Speaker 4: Why?

00:00:42
Speaker 3: Because are too many cheetahs?

00:00:44
Speaker 1: Oh?

00:00:44
Speaker 4: No, okay, I've got one for you.

00:00:47
Speaker 3: Oh you got one? Yeah?

00:00:49
Speaker 4: What's the difference between a cheetah and office supplies?

00:00:53
Speaker 3: A cheetah and office supplies? I don't know what.

00:00:56
Speaker 4: One is really fast and the other is stationary.

00:00:58
Speaker 2: Oh, yours is way better than time.

00:01:02
Speaker 3: What a good way to start this episode?

00:01:04
Speaker 2: Right?

00:01:05
Speaker 3: So you know, listeners, I'm sharing your guessing.

00:01:07
Speaker 2: Yep, We're gonna be talking all about cheetahs here and I am at the beautiful Safari Park. You know, I'm actually in a spot that maybe a lot of you listeners are not aware of. So this is called the Cheetah Conservation Center, and we'll talk a little bit about the area, you know, but before we get things rolling, I really should reference again the human being that's standing in front of me right now. So, my friend, could you introduce yourself your name and your title and what you do here at the Safari Park.

00:01:31
Speaker 5: Of course, my name is Katie Wicks. I am a lead wildlife care specialist here at the Safari Park and I lead the Cheetah Conservation Center.

00:01:39
Speaker 3: Oh that's amazing.

00:01:40
Speaker 2: So, you know, as we were saying, you know, we're out in an area that guests don't have access to here really, I mean at times in the past, I know there's been tours that possibly come out, you know and check out certain areas.

00:01:50
Speaker 3: But could you describe this area here in the Safari Park for me?

00:01:54
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:01:54
Speaker 4: Absolutely.

00:01:55
Speaker 5: We're actually two miles out past the main rhino sign for the Safari Park. We are typically not available to the public, but we do offer special tours and behind the scenes opportunities. And we're actually located in the bio preserve for the Safari Park as well, and we're one of ten breeding facilities in the United States for South African cheetahs.

00:02:15
Speaker 3: Oh, one out of ten.

00:02:17
Speaker 2: Well, that's a big flex. Actually, that's amazing, right, Oh, that's wonderful. Now, I know there's a lot to talk about this amazing cat species from Africa, but I don't want.

00:02:25
Speaker 3: To always assume that kids or people know what we're talking about when we say the word cheetah. So can you describe what is a cheetah? What makes it so unique here in the world.

00:02:33
Speaker 5: Absolutely, cheetahs are incredibly unique. They are neither large nor small. They're somewhere in the middle. They have spots, but not like spots like other cats have, right, and their nails are unlike any other cat as well, they have more like dog nails. And they're also the world's fastest land mammal.

00:02:52
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I mean that.

00:02:53
Speaker 2: Again, that's a pretty good flex scene, I gotta say. But honestly, I mean this is one of my favorite spots. I always tell you Copull of my two favorite spots of being a wildlife care specialists at the Safari Park. It's actually Australia with all that beautiful wildlife condo ridge, but also here when I was working at the Bird Conservation Center because we're adjacent to that. Also it's a beautiful, quite generally quiet eric but a lot of local wildlife here too, which I really really love. Now, there's a lot to talk about cheatish, but talk about the main ones that people think about.

00:03:24
Speaker 3: So I made a joke earlier before we started about.

00:03:27
Speaker 2: How I remember back in the day, being part of the behavior department, we had a program years ago called a cheater Run right, highlighting the hunting behaviors of this amazing mammal species from Africa. And then I was part of the bird team, right, So I would hear friends of mine, like a net as an example, and she'd be talking about the fastest land mammal and the guests get so excited and they see this, and then we would stroll in with the peregrine falcon, right, and just to highlight that the fastest animal by far, the peagrine over two hundred miles per hour. But being the land mammal and reaching that top speed, can you really describe what's going on? Like why does the cheetah have to be so fast? And how are they so fast? What makes them so rappy?

00:04:07
Speaker 3: Though?

00:04:07
Speaker 5: Basically yeah, absolutely, So I'll tackle your second point first. Okay, So the way they're able to be fast is because of those toenails I was telling you about. It's kind of like having cleats on their feet at any given moment.

00:04:19
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, they're ready.

00:04:20
Speaker 5: To go soccer shoes or so erectly' always ready to run. They're very spelt, they're built very aerodynamically physiologically, their heart is enlarged, their lungs are enlarged so they can take in more oxygen so that they can achieve those top speeds and they can go up to seventy miles per hour. However, they can't sustain that speed for that long. So, as I like to tell people, oftentimes, cheetahs are still cats. They're very good at conserving energy. So if they don't have to run that fast, they won't oh right, right, But we are able to provide them different opportunities to run in different ways.

00:04:56
Speaker 4: Out here as well.

00:04:57
Speaker 3: Oh that's incredible.

00:04:58
Speaker 5: Yeah, so at the Cheetah run, we still do offer that opportunity. It's different now than it used to look. We're still training some new individuals to.

00:05:06
Speaker 3: Really be a part of it. Yeah, Oh that's incredible.

00:05:08
Speaker 5: But out here, some of our pens are over an acre large, and we can set up like zig zag courses, so the cheetahs have to bank and they have to do things that they weren't expecting and we can kind of recreate a real hunt somewhat for them.

00:05:20
Speaker 3: Yeah. Oh that's exciting. Yeah, listeners, I'm looking around right now.

00:05:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, this place is massive, like so many habitats here for the cheetas. I didn't know that that behavior was so being offered some guests, So guests be sure to check out the website Sdzsafari Park dot org on the safari section and you can see some updated information for those cool experiences.

00:05:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's wicked.

00:05:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, I would imagine the need to be that fast. We're talking Africa, but if I'm mistaken, there's also asiatic species as well. Right, can you talk regionally first, like where can cheates be found in the world, and then what's kind of their main prey?

00:05:52
Speaker 3: What are they doing?

00:05:53
Speaker 5: Yeah, so the South African species is the largest species, and they are actually starting to do a little bit better can considering the genetic bottleneck that they had been subjected to prior to this due to human encroachment and habitat fragmentation and such.

00:06:08
Speaker 4: But they're doing a lot better.

00:06:10
Speaker 5: The need for being that fast is kind of a culmination of things. So cheetahs are predators, but they're not apex predators.

00:06:19
Speaker 2: So they yeah in case starting out, because sometimes I think of the kids listening, you know, So when you say apex predator, you're talking like the top top predator. Like if it's the ocean, it's a great white shark and Africa, I imagine the lion with apex, right, So you're saying she's not quite up there, right.

00:06:34
Speaker 5: Yeah, okay, I would put them if the lion is very very top of the pyramid, they're probably like three to four spots down. So they've got to contend with painted dogs, hyenas, other cat species potentially, and it can be a lot.

00:06:50
Speaker 4: So they're built for speed.

00:06:51
Speaker 5: They're not built to fight for their prey, right right, So some of the adaptations that they've developed are going to be that speed so that they can catch prey that maybe other animals can't catch speed bys. They're also diurnal, so they hunt during the daytime. So those black stripes you see on their face are kind of like nature sunglasses.

00:07:10
Speaker 3: Oh right, totally.

00:07:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like we talked about the peregrine falcon too, right, So the same idea, it's to reflect light and absorb it, right, get it away from the eye so they can see their prey. Yeah. Oh that's really interesting now when we're talking about prey and by praying mean kids, you know, you know, they get hungry, they got to eat, and so we're talking this is a carnivore, right, So an animal like a Thompson's gazelle as an example, would be like a small, medium sized herbivore in Africa, they would be chasing.

00:07:34
Speaker 3: Yeah. Oh that's actually now to your point too.

00:07:37
Speaker 2: Being diurnal, they're also avoiding that competition I would imagine with some of the hyaenas and lines out there too, right. And you made a point earlier because they're smaller animals, so they probably can't defend their prey once they take it down.

00:07:50
Speaker 3: Am I correct?

00:07:50
Speaker 1: Well?

00:07:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know I love story time. So let's say story time. So we're at around the savannah. Right, Let's say you and I are too cheetahs. We're hanging out and now we see, oh, there's a Thompson's gazelle off in the distance. It's during daytime, by the way, so it's bright, it's sunny. You are the one that's going to grab it. So describe to me the hunting, the strategy, what's going on. How are you going to do this?

00:08:10
Speaker 5: Absolutely, I'm going to get low to the ground in the grass, okay, so that they cannot see me. My spot's blend in really well with that shifting grass.

00:08:18
Speaker 3: Oh, that's why the spots. That's why the spots are gay.

00:08:20
Speaker 5: Yeah, and I'm going to block in. So cheetahs have very very good distance vision. They have visual clarity up to about two miles away. Oh I didn't know that really, Yeah, no, and that's crazy. Yeah yeah, I can't see that far. Well I can right now because I'm a cheetah.

00:08:35
Speaker 3: All right, that's right, your cheetah. Okay, here we go.

00:08:37
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:08:38
Speaker 5: So I'm going to be crouched down and the waving grass kind of locking onto the prey. I'm going to wait until one of those Thompson's gazelle's is by itself or maybe lingering a little bit behind the rest of the group because.

00:08:50
Speaker 4: Their strength and numbers.

00:08:51
Speaker 3: Right.

00:08:51
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, And once I see an opportunity where I think I can blast off and try and catch it, I'm going to do that. So I take off I can hit about forty miles an hour in three steps.

00:09:04
Speaker 3: Whoa and three steps?

00:09:05
Speaker 4: Three steps?

00:09:06
Speaker 3: Oh okay, okay, crazy yeah, but that Thompson.

00:09:08
Speaker 5: Skiz I was like, oh my gosh, and I'm gonna start banking right and left. So I have a long, heavy tail that helps act as a counterbalance so that I can zig when they zig and zag when they zag. So I'm not just good at running in a straight line. I can also bank lot you can turn.

00:09:23
Speaker 3: Oh that's wicked.

00:09:24
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:09:25
Speaker 2: And then so not to get too graphic with the kitties, right, but what's call it a cheetah hug?

00:09:29
Speaker 3: Right? So a cheeta hug around maybe the neck area?

00:09:32
Speaker 2: Right?

00:09:32
Speaker 3: What's going on? Right?

00:09:33
Speaker 2: Okay, so you're the cheetah. Are you tired? What's going on? You're holding on so tired.

00:09:37
Speaker 5: I'm holding on to the best of my ability. But man, I and breathe the really hard right, And so I gotta wait until my breath rate comes down because I don't know if you've ever run really fast and then tried to eat ice cream or get water.

00:09:50
Speaker 4: Thanks for telling, hurt, Oh totally yeah.

00:09:52
Speaker 5: Yeah, So I gotta wait until I can have the water or the ice cream. But in that time someone's seen a cheetah running really fast and then be like, oh, what's going on over there?

00:10:01
Speaker 4: Do they have ice cream?

00:10:02
Speaker 3: Yeah?

00:10:03
Speaker 4: No, they might try and make.

00:10:04
Speaker 1: My I.

00:10:06
Speaker 2: Mean, you know, I'm a big bird guy, right, so I imagine some vultures just saw you, so they know there's some food down there, right, and that could be an indicator for other animals as well, right, So I know we're making light of it. But also there's a safety concern, right, So I mean, you have your prey there, but you also have to be careful for another larger predators easy because you could inevitably get injured.

00:10:25
Speaker 5: Correct, Yeah, So most of the time the cheetah is going to opt to run away if it's faced with too much competition exactly, And not to discount their bravery that they think that they can hang onto it. They may try, but more likely than not, they're gonna cut their losses and try again another day.

00:10:43
Speaker 2: And can I ask you these every hunt successful or is it a low probability in your opinion.

00:10:49
Speaker 4: There's a low probability.

00:10:50
Speaker 5: So because the cheetahs can't take down very large prey or the prey will fight back. Sometimes the cheetah might get injured, there's not a super high success rate, and then and if they do catch the prey again, other predators are going to come in and try and steal all the glory.

00:11:06
Speaker 2: It sounds like a lot of challenge that cheats just naturally have to contend with out there in Africa.

00:11:11
Speaker 3: But let's talk about.

00:11:12
Speaker 2: To you, because I know the numbers aren't so good, right, can you speak a little about that the status of cheat is overall, like how they do and how they're doing.

00:11:18
Speaker 3: Okay, they're not so good.

00:11:19
Speaker 5: They're definitely a vulnerable species. But like I said, there's been a lot of really great work going on in Africa in addition to the support that institutions like the Safari Park are participating in. The numbers are getting a little bit better. Like I said, there's a little bit more genetic diversity than there was prior. Still definitely not what it needs to be to be a very, very healthy population. But there's also been a lot of conservation work to help educate local communities on how to coexist with the predators because a lot of times when livestock goes missing, it's actually not the cheatah's fault.

00:11:54
Speaker 3: Right, not right. Yeah.

00:11:56
Speaker 2: I actually just finished talking some of the elephant teams too, and just thinking about programs the Nature Conservancy or up in northern Kenya. I love the program with Chewy Mama's providing available not only water but food resources all. Some of it is for the domestic livesck you know, for their livelihood, but it's also benefiting a lot of animals.

00:12:13
Speaker 3: In particularly it was the leopard as a focus.

00:12:16
Speaker 2: But you know, my ADHG brain went saying, leopard, you mentioned the spots of a cheetah.

00:12:21
Speaker 3: Can we talk about because people get them confused?

00:12:23
Speaker 2: I think right between leopard and cheetah and jaguar. How about Wes say in Africa, can you describe the difference if you can, the spots between the two, the leopard and the cheetah.

00:12:32
Speaker 3: How can we differentiate So.

00:12:34
Speaker 5: The best way I remember it is cheetahs have polka dots, yeah, fully folded little dots all over. Leopards are going to have like an open circle. And I say they have like kind of the medium sized spot as the medium sized cat and jaguars.

00:12:51
Speaker 4: I know they're not in Africa.

00:12:53
Speaker 5: Jaguars are the biggest cat and they have the biggest spots. So they have that kind of like semicircle with the rosette inside, so the most masked.

00:13:00
Speaker 2: Oh that's a good way to say, thanks for spilling the tea on the spots.

00:13:03
Speaker 3: I appreciate that.

00:13:04
Speaker 2: I've always done a huge fan of spots by the way, I think like African guinea fowl.

00:13:07
Speaker 3: But also it's just a great way to blend into that area too.

00:13:10
Speaker 2: Right, my brain's gone right now to like socio dynamics of the cat species in Africa. You know, from the leopard being a solitary animal to the line normally being a very highly sociable kind of cat species. What's a cheetah like? Because are they always solitary? Do they sometimes hang out together?

00:13:27
Speaker 3: What's that about?

00:13:27
Speaker 5: That's a great question. So, as I said earlier, they're neither large nor smaller, kind of medium. Okay, socially they're also medium, so they're not truly social or truly solitary.

00:13:36
Speaker 4: So it kind of depends.

00:13:39
Speaker 5: So a lot of times you'll see something called a coalition two brothers that maybe have moved on from living with their mom. They'll live together. Sometimes you can see a coalition of unrelated individuals too, that are like you know what, it's really hard out here in Africa. What if we're roommates and they can take down bigger break.

00:13:56
Speaker 3: Oh that's cool. Is it always the same gender or.

00:13:59
Speaker 4: Does it change times? It's usually the same gender.

00:14:02
Speaker 5: Okay, yeah, we have a coalition actually out here at the CCC and it's two sisters. Oh really yeah, yeah, So that is a little bit less typical. But in the wild you typically see brothers. The females tend to be a little bit more solitary and territorial, I feel that, But a're still a little bit more nomadic too, So those males will have their territories and the females will kind of wander around and they'll have their territories too. But it's all very fluid. It's interesting fluid.

00:14:27
Speaker 2: So to your point, it's not like a monogamous sort of relationship. So you're saying, you know, it's time to make some cheetah baby. So the males are generally trying to find the females out there, right, they'll get together, do what they do best, and then the male takes off, right.

00:14:41
Speaker 3: Is that kind of the way it goes, right, And then a little bit mama will.

00:14:44
Speaker 2: Give birth to some baby cheetes, right, yeah, I've seen pictures.

00:14:48
Speaker 3: Can you describe one for me for our listeners? Yeah? Cute?

00:14:51
Speaker 5: Yeah, okay, So I would say they're teeny tiny. They're very small, they have really long fur. They're kind of like a grayish color. They chirp like little birds.

00:15:00
Speaker 3: I have heard it.

00:15:01
Speaker 2: Hopefully the sound team can find that sound. It's the cutest little sound it is, and it's unique. It's a unique sound, right, yeah, Actually talking about sound, so you mentioned the chirping of the baby cheetahs.

00:15:11
Speaker 3: Oh, before I get distracted.

00:15:12
Speaker 2: Also, there's long hair with the cheetah babies, right, is there a purpose?

00:15:16
Speaker 3: Is that long hair? In your opinion?

00:15:17
Speaker 5: Yeah, the main purpose is distraction and camouflage and blended with grasses, they can look like other species of animals potentially.

00:15:24
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, Oh that's a good idea.

00:15:27
Speaker 2: And so can I also ask you because you mentioned we're talking about cheetah conservation earlier, mentioning fragmentation of habitat right, genetic bottlenecks, and by that I mean there's not enough variability individuals to keep it diverse and diversu is my favorite word. So again, that's an issue that's going on we talked about projects that are happening in Africa that can benefit cheetah populations.

00:15:45
Speaker 3: But what are we doing here?

00:15:47
Speaker 2: I mean, it's called the Cheetah Conservation Center, right, So what's kind of the goal here?

00:15:51
Speaker 3: What are we doing here?

00:15:51
Speaker 5: So, as I mentioned earlier, we're one of ten facilities in the United States that participates in the South African Cheetah SSP or speed Se Survival Plan. So we're one of the ton institutions that breeds for that population. The goal being to create as much genetic diversity as we can.

00:16:08
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:16:09
Speaker 5: The broader goal would then be to introduce the genetics from the United States or even Europe or wherever to be able to introduce those genetics directly into the wild to help facilitate the diversity that way as well.

00:16:22
Speaker 3: Oh, I love that.

00:16:23
Speaker 2: That's great And again guess I'm sure they know, but coming to the Safari Park or the San Diego Zoo they can help out and all those amazing programs too, Right, that's excellent. Another question popped on ahead because I get this one so much. When a career is around the park of the zoo, is the term big cat and small cat?

00:16:40
Speaker 3: Can you describe a little bit of that, Like, what does that mean?

00:16:42
Speaker 2: We're talking about a separation of all the cat species of the world, right, Yeah.

00:16:45
Speaker 3: Can you explain this for our listeners a little bit. Yeah.

00:16:48
Speaker 4: Absolutely, It's kind of exactly what you might think it is.

00:16:50
Speaker 5: So big cats are going to be like lions, tigers, jaguars. They're big cats. They roar, they roar exactly. Okay, then you have small cats. You can include domestic cats in that.

00:17:02
Speaker 3: Okay.

00:17:02
Speaker 5: Out here at CCC, we also have a species called the black butt, a cat very little, and we have cheetahs and even mountain lions could kind of be considered in there.

00:17:12
Speaker 3: I read that too, so it wasn't sure if that was accurate or not.

00:17:14
Speaker 5: So yes, okay, So the thing that they all have in common is they can't roar, but they can per They can per.

00:17:20
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that's kind of the easiest way, in your opinion, to separate the two. And I would imagine it's something to do with the structure in the vocal cords.

00:17:26
Speaker 1: Right.

00:17:26
Speaker 3: I'm not a throat scientist, but that's what I had read. Right, So that's kind of a quick lay. Where does a cheata go in that cheetah.

00:17:32
Speaker 5: Again, they're somewhere in the middle. Mountain lions are kind of in the middle too, but they can both per so they actually kind of have their own genetic branch. They're kind of their own thing genetically speaking. Yeah, they're not a part of the broader panthera family like lions and tigers are panthera.

00:17:47
Speaker 2: That's a pretty solid am like that. Oh, that's excellent. Earlier I forgot to ask you this. We mentioned the chirping that cheatahs can do. Now we're talking about the per versus a roar. Can you describe to me in like your favorite cheetah vocals, Like, what other vocals do they have or do they have more?

00:18:02
Speaker 4: Yeah, they have a lot.

00:18:03
Speaker 5: They have a broad enough vocal range considering that they're just cats, I mean, compared to birds that have like a very broad vocal for sure. Yeah, my favorite would be the stutter bark.

00:18:13
Speaker 3: The stutter bars.

00:18:15
Speaker 5: That can't do it myself, but it's kind of I guess it's exactly what it sounds like, right, It's this like stuttering sound that sounds like it comes deep from in their throat and then they bark, but it sounds more like a Chihuahua. Sometimes my pitch ya middle echo through the valley out here. Oh, it's very loud, but it's kind of their Marco Polo finding a girlfriend.

00:18:39
Speaker 2: I love them.

00:18:39
Speaker 3: My name is Marco Polo. So I really appreciate that.

00:18:41
Speaker 2: Oh that's great, so a way of because it's big savannah habitats, right, so they have to navigate this space and try to find a mate. Oh, I love that, and so earlier to Kanasty with the conservation programs, we talked about safe in all that aspect too. In your opinion, is there other avenues or the ways of public and health out with Chitta's got I was in the Beckman Center, by the way, and I was telling what I was about to do.

00:19:02
Speaker 3: Everyone's face is lit up. Everyone loves cheetahs, you know.

00:19:05
Speaker 2: So in your professional opinion, like, what else can people do to help out cheetahs out here?

00:19:09
Speaker 5: Yeah, I would say, I mean, obviously, visiting the Safari Park is a huge, huge help. It supports all of our conservation efforts. Yeah, but there are like little things that you can do as just a human being out in the world to make more conscious choices about how you interact with your environment and there is always options for donating and just being aware in general.

00:19:30
Speaker 4: It's always very.

00:19:31
Speaker 3: Helpful, Oh totally. And I actually always bring up to travel.

00:19:34
Speaker 2: I mean, I just have a friend of mine who's actually going to go out to South Africa and into her experience there. And I mentioned to kids in particular that we all have the power to help the world in a good way or not so good way, right, and when we travel, be aware of the things we're promoting, whether Eco tour is an example, right, make sure you're supporting the right kind of institutions and organizations.

00:19:53
Speaker 3: Or don't buy a claw.

00:19:56
Speaker 2: Or a feather or a piece of wood on the side of the street or even a store, because you don't know where these things come from, right, especially with wildlife traffic items.

00:20:02
Speaker 3: You know. So I really love that friend. This was really great. I'm learning a lot. This sutter Brock.

00:20:06
Speaker 2: I've never heard one before, but I can't wait to listen to it. You know, I'm gonna look it up after this interview, but you know, before we get things rolling up here, because we're getting close to our time. I always love to ask people what got you into cheetahs? Like, were you always like you were born and like, I love spots, I love cheetahs.

00:20:23
Speaker 3: I mean, what got you into this role? How did this happen for you?

00:20:25
Speaker 4: Man?

00:20:26
Speaker 5: I feel like I'm the definition of never saying ever ooh yeah, yeah.

00:20:30
Speaker 4: I've always really.

00:20:31
Speaker 5: Loved working with carnivores, and I've worked with carnivores for a very large part.

00:20:35
Speaker 4: Of my career.

00:20:36
Speaker 5: The cheetahs, I don't know if it was just like, ah, they're just not that, like they're kind of weird. Like I don't know, and I'm just telling you, I'm going on four years out here, and I still think they're very weird and I can't quite wrap my head around it. But man, they're so unique and cool and they make you work for it. They really make you work for the appreciation. But once they've got it, you know, you're like, I respect this species a lot for everything that it has to do to survive. Have how challenging it is to just be a cheetah. You know, their life expectancy is not that of other cat species out in the wild, and they've got.

00:21:08
Speaker 4: A lot they're going up against. You know, we love rooting for the little guy, for the underdog.

00:21:11
Speaker 3: Oh, friend, I am all about the underdog. I love that.

00:21:14
Speaker 2: And also I failed to mention earlier that this episode's actually gonna air a little bit after International Cheat Today, right, which I really really love. And we have our Wildlife Awareness Day in case our listeners aren't aware that if you go to a website again sez Safari Park dot or go to Wildlife Awareness Days and we have certain events. So we're going to have maybe specialist talks out here. Maybe there's activities for children, so always keep your eyes and ears open for that, right other ways where the world can celebrate cheetahs on International Cheat Today, which is gonna be December fourth, So I'm really stoked about that.

00:21:47
Speaker 3: Friend.

00:21:47
Speaker 2: This was amazing. It's so calming here during our interview. I didn't want to get distracted. If there's a red tail hawk that called earlier too, did to hear it. I know I loved it too. I just love mother nature, the diversity of it. So this was wicked and awesome cheetah joke that was way about other than mind by the.

00:22:03
Speaker 3: Way, I loved it. You can steal it, all right, give me some cheat knuckleels. I appreciate that. Thank you, friend. That was great for sure.

00:22:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah, I learned so much about cheetahs. You guys, I think I am a total fan. And don't forget come here to the Safari Park. We have a beautiful cheetah habitat also that you can navigate and walk towards and check out.

00:22:24
Speaker 3: But don't forget.

00:22:25
Speaker 2: The Cheetah Conservation Center is off site, but there's tours sometimes I can highlight certain.

00:22:29
Speaker 3: Areas if you want to learn more. Now, I've learned so much this year.

00:22:33
Speaker 2: We've talked about so much, from meerkats to cassewerries to cheetahs. And we have another episode, but I actually don't you want to tell you what it is yet. You're just gonna have to keep your eyes and your ears tuned in to hear some more adventures. Marco went Stay Wild. For more information about the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoos at Farry Park, go to SDZWA dot org. Amazing Wildlife is a production of iHeartRadio. Our supervising producer is still in Fagan, and our sound designers are Sierra Spring and Matt Russell. For more shows from iHeartRadio, check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,