Why Do Cheetahs & Cats Groom So Much. - The Answer Is A Natural Survival Instinct With Many Reasons.

Hey we got food coming it's coming yeah it's coming buddy I know. All right listen to him. Man it's not just Gabriel that loves to groom it's all cheetahs. Oh my goodness. Sweet Abby. Hello oh hello. It's not just cheetahs. Leopards love grooming too. Just watch my fingers. Hey buddy. I don't think he likes the camera. There's a reflection sometimes Even leopards love grooming. But none are more obsessed by it than the cheetah. So why is that? Cheetahs groom for a variety of reasons. The reasons are all instinctive and based on survival traits. Common consensus is it's just a salt on your skin but no it's way more than that. There you go get that on there buddy yeah get that on there. The salt theory is part of it. Wildlife that don't get enough mineral salts in their diet actively seek it out. Like elephants which will dig in the earth and in caves looking for it. But we don't find predators digging and licking inside salt mines. A predator's diet contains a lot more essential elements than herbivores. Cheetahs will drink the blood and eat the organs of the prey they kill in order to acquire those essential vitamins and minerals. So they don't need salt mines. There's way more reasons that cats groom than the salt on our skin. Like Sahara here who enjoys pacifying herself while grooming. The sweat oils and salts on my skin surely taste good as well. You bring me food you bring me food you bring me food or you? What tastes better? What tastes better? But if it was just a taste Gabriel wouldn't be licking over the same spot over and over and over and over and over. Dehydrate them too a bit so I always bring water make sure there's water. Gabriel hadn't had anybody to grooming is an essential instinctive adaptation for cats. Here's why I think cheetahs love it so much. Hello how are you doing? Oh so soft hello. The main reason Gabriel grooms me is because we're friends. He likes me. That's number one social a social connection. Hey buddy. Hey buddy. But in a in the wild a coalition of male cheetahs. Yeah buddy. We'll we'll groom each other to keep themselves clean. You know they form coalitions. Hey you smell good buddy. Yeah you smell good. Fresh smells good. Mother and cubs groom clean as well but notice they're not purring between each other. There's a happy euphoria coming from Gabriel as evidenced by his purring. Cats groom because it's pleasurable but they also do it to clean up wounds. Look at his eyes are halfway. His eyes are closed. Look at that cute. His eyes are closed. Both cheetahs and leopards close their eyes while grooming someone else. Sure it's to protect their eyes but it seems like a response to pleasure. He rolls his eyes back. His eyes are closed again. Look at her eyes closed. It's like that's like Gabriel the cheetah does when I rotate. That hurts. Wow by the way. Folks often ask me what do you put on your beard to make him do that? People think well you put something on your beard to make him do that. Well he's looking the same spot like a hundred times when he's but by now he's bound to gotten it right. So no it's not nothing on my beard. The other part of the grooming instinct is cheetahs prefer grooming hair over bear skin. Notice how Gabriel migrates to my bearded goatee rather than the freshly shaven bear skin of my face. It's this way every encounter. Give me a proper hello. A proper cheetah hello. Cheetahs feel and sense things with their mouth. Their lips, mouth, teeth, and tongue are like our hands. Besides using their visual sense they use their lips, mouth, and tongue to feel out the hairy bits. Oh she likes my beard. Watch Eden discover the fur of my eyebrow and start nibbling it. So in the wild you want to keep your coalition brothers clean from debris and this is what he would do if he was with the coalition. They just made a kill and they had like food on their lips and things they can't get off. The coalition partners do that for them. Right buddy? Yeah. Cats tongues are adapted for grooming. Tropophobia warning. Here it comes. This is Gabriel's tongue I filmed some years back from a physical exam he had. Look at all those sharp fingernail like spines on it. Their primary purpose is to lick meat off a bone and comb fur. Look at those raspy spines hundreds and hundreds of them. That's what cuts me all the time. Cats groom themselves and others to maintain a tidy fur. Maintaining a tidy fur protects them from the elements and potential bacterial infections of their skin. And look at that he's closing his eyes. So perhaps it is to protect them from their own claws and other cats tongues. Some folks suggest I groom the cat's back and I explain that I am scratching and rubbing with my fingers and hands. They don't know the difference. Now I've mentioned before Gabriel's breath smells nice. Good morning. Cats have a deodorizing agent in their saliva that they spread over themselves and you when grooming. Their saliva masks stinks. If your cat's breath doesn't smell like a mild soap long after eating it could have a problem with its teeth or stomach. Cheap as all cats have a deodorizing agent in their saliva. And I smell I smell Gabriel's breath. It smells very good. It's like a mild soap. And what that's what that's for is to keep stinks off like bacteria growth and things like that. It hides those stinks from you know so they can hide from predators and prey. And if you have a brother that stinks well you gotta clean him up. And it puts that saliva uh cleaning agent or not cleaning agent but deodorizing agent on on you. And the reason Gabriel grooms me is uh because it's pleasurable. And that's that's part of the main reason really and I just I mean the fact that he likes me we're friends um but also it's a social bonding thing and it's it's it's pleasurable. I'm convinced it's pleasurable they don't they wouldn't do it. I mean all these like this not just Gabriel. All right buddy. I have a theory about that the pleasure not only is it a social um kind of thing where uh he's he's got his brother here he's he's grooming cleaning up as if he uh it's he likes the interaction um but also there's a special organ up on top of the palate of a of a cat's it's called the Jacobson's organ. The organ is actually inside the nasal passage. The papillae nodule you see has tubes leading to it. This is the organ that takes in particles and scents during a phlegmon response. Many animals have this organ. Cats, dogs, horses, goats, deer, and even reptiles. It's not only used to detect sexual readiness but to help prevent territorial disputes. Now I think cats groom because it's physically and emotionally pleasurable. Now I suspect cheetahs prefer grooming hair over bare skin due to this Jacobson's organ. When grooming with their spiny tongues hairs are drawn into their mouth and pressed against this nodule. It's my theory they get some type of pleasure from it. Grooming is an instinct of survival for cats. They love it and by allowing them to groom me I've added value to them in their minds. As proof positive these cheetahs come to me for a social and physical bond every time. Grooming the hairy arm of a coalition friend that's happiness for a cheetah and that's why I let them groom me. If you like this video please share it and give a thumbs up and consider joining my channel. Follow me.