He lay down in the shade of a tree for a quick nap. When he opened his eyes, he was not alone. A cheetah was stretched out against him, sound asleep. The scene, filmed and photographed by a wildlife photographer in South Africa, has been shared millions of times, and it says a lot about this extraordinary animal.
A nap with Eden
The man is Dolph Volker, a wildlife photographer who volunteered at Cheetah Experience, a sanctuary near Bloemfontein, South Africa, that cares for cheetahs and other endangered big cats.
One sunny day, he dozed off under a tree inside an enclosure. Eden, one of the sanctuary’s cheetahs, came over, probably out of curiosity, and lay down against him. It was her gentle nudges that woke him up. He then filmed and photographed what followed: Eden purring, grooming him like another cheetah, nibbling his arm and head and dozing off again at his side.
A cat that purrs, but doesn’t roar
The images surprise because we imagine a cheetah as a lion or a leopard. It isn’t one. The cheetah is the only big cat that cannot roar: it purrs, chirps and meows, a lot like a house cat. Grooming and light nibbling are the way cheetahs bond with each other.
Volker has explained that he could never have built that kind of bond so quickly with a lion or a leopard. Cheetahs are generally less aggressive toward humans than other big cats, and Eden had grown up around people at the sanctuary.
An animal in trouble
Behind the tender images is a serious message, and the reason Volker was there. The cheetah is listed as vulnerable. According to the Cheetah Conservation Fund, the world has lost about 90% of its wild cheetahs in the last hundred years, and about a third of those that remain live in southern Africa. Habitat loss, conflict with farmers and illegal trafficking of cubs as pets are the main threats.
Why cheetahs are different
The cheetah is built for speed, not for fighting: a light body, a small head, long legs and claws that only partly retract, for grip when sprinting. It hunts by day, mostly small antelopes, and often loses its prey to lions and hyenas. That more cautious nature partly explains why sanctuary cheetahs can grow so comfortable around familiar people.
Don’t try this at home
Eden is not a wild cheetah: she lives in a sanctuary and is used to people. A wild cheetah would never behave this way, and approaching one is dangerous. Many conservation groups are also critical of hands-on encounters with captive big cats, such as cub petting, which can encourage breeding animals for tourism. The best way to help cheetahs is to support serious conservation programs, not to look for a selfie.
The story also says something about our relationship with cats in general. House cats choose their people too, as we explained with who a cat picks as its favorite person. And closer to home, wildlife needs a hand as winter comes: here’s how to help backyard chickadees survive the cold.
A shady tree, a sleeping cheetah and a camera close at hand. That’s the story.
