Cheetah Cubs Go Wild The Lion Whisperer

Is that a nice vantage point? Right, good morning everyone. Today is a magical day. It is a milestone day. Today is the day that the Miracle 8 cheetah cubs, for the first time, get released from that one hectare area back into a wilderness area. It's 120 hectares big and this is the area where the cheetahs are going to learn to hone their skills at hunting. All right guys, so I have Caroline on the other end. She's going to basically open up for the cheetahs to go into the area that they usually go into. This is this area here. They're going to be going basically through this gate into an enclosure that you can drive in, in a car, so we can actually follow them around in a car if we so desire. Fortune favours the brave. They basically can go wherever their hearts desire. So this is going to be a massively exciting outing for them. It's novel. It's never been experienced before. The last time these guys were out in a massive area like this was when they were tiny little cubs. All right, so the group has split into five and three. Slowly but surely making their way down the fence line and this is normal behaviour guys. I mean this is what they're going to do. They're going to use fences and they're going to walk on roads because it's easier on their feet. So nothing unusual going on here. So all these new smells, you can just imagine what's going through their little minds. So they are so focused and intrigued. This is just like a whole new adventure for these guys. So cool to see. It's what it should be and they are walking through the bush and if you didn't know any better you'd say that they were wild cheetah and look at them smelling. All right, so absolutely the right behaviour. They are on high alert. The three wilder ones are certainly spitting and hissing at things they're not sure of. But they're also now starting to settle down and observe and look. Oh, they smelled some bocky poo. They're going to start livening up their instincts as they're out here and they smell and see. You know when they're in a smaller area like they were a lot of those instincts do get dumbed down. So it just takes a few weeks in a wilder environment for them to hone those instincts and for them to start, you know, learning what they should be doing as cheetah. They've split up a bit but what's interesting is they certainly know where everyone is. So they are staying in touch and you'll hear when one gets a bit lost. They're going to emit that whistle. That whistle is a very interesting, it's a chirp actually. Call it a cheetah chirp and, you know, so other predators don't recognize it as a predator. They think it's a bird. So it's a very good way of going incognito. So they will use it to regroup. They've split basically into the three and into the, oh, here he comes back looking at where they are because of the chirp I think. Okay, they're starting to circle back which is great. Oh, one up the tree. Let's go and get that one. One up a tree. The tree climbing cheetah. Having an absolute blast. Is that a nice vantage point? Sure, I must just say they really do blend in. So every few seconds I'm looking at the camera and I look up and like I try and spot them in this felt. They just really do blending. Doing a marvellous job of not being seen. But what they are doing is they're circling back to the enclosure which is maybe not a bad first outing because what we'll do now is give them some food so that initially while they get used to this bigger area we can feed them in the smaller area so there's a way if need be to get them back. So it's always the concern is you're releasing them into this bigger area. How do you herd these cats? So yeah, ever heard of the concept herding cats? I think this is where it comes from. But look at these guys. They've done a magnificent job. They're back. One, two, three, four, five. We're just missing three but they should come back. Already they're tired. Hey, are you tired? Yeah, this is tiring stuff, hey? Yeah. All right guys, so this is the start of wonderful things to come. The first outing, it's gone really, really well. You know, they, kidding, they're frightened of their own shadows at times but curious and bold at others. So it's an interesting little dynamic. They tire out quite quickly. So this is one of the big things about rewilding these cheetahs is that the captivity dulls down their fitness. So they've got to get fitter. And you know, these guys have literally been out for half an hour to 40 minutes and they're really exhausted. They want to lie in the shade of the nearest tree, which is fine because as we know as humans, fitness takes time. It's not an instant thing. There's no silver bullet to fitness. You've got to work at it and get fit slowly. So that's what's happening and has got to happen with these guys. It's going to become literally a daily thing. Out they go. They go for their walk, call them back and they get their breakfast. And slowly but surely, you kind of leave them longer and longer out in this area and also obviously start to feed them in here, the whole carcasses, once they know how to consume and dig into a whole carcass. All right guys, so that's it for today's video. I think the cubs did a smashing job on their first outing out into the wild. I hope you enjoyed the video. And if you did, like and share. Until next time from me, Kevin, on Unrespray TV. Bye.