Cheetah Cubs First Wild Meal Zebra Antelope Warthog Pigeon MOUSE With Some Hand Feeding To Tame

Here's an update about Abby and her cubs. The cubs are a lot bigger now and still nurse from mom at five months old. They'll continue to nurse up until about eight months old. Cheetah cubs have temporary milk teeth which helps them nurse. They lose these at about five months old and replaced by permanent ones. But that doesn't stop them from eating meat and bone at about two and a half months old. Fast forward to five months old and look at them now. So it's my first time feeding Kimmy since I've been back. Both she and her brother have been doing extremely well. Neither has been ill but Kimmy did have a sore knee for a few weeks. It's all better now. Oh look at how dirty you are. My goodness you're dirty. It's been heavily raining here. Hey sweetie. Kimmy is five months old now. There you go sweetie. What I'm doing is I'm doing some hand feeding like I do Gabriel and even Abby to familiarize them with kind of a gesture of good faith right. Get them familiar with you know hand feeding like if you give them medicines you want to make sure they take it. So that's what I've been doing. I wash my fingers here too. Their jaws are already strong enough to bite through a bone amazing. And it's good to let them chew on the bone and let them masticate it basically so they can swallow it properly. Yeah Kimmy. There you go sweetie. So it's just uh you know she's you see how how quiet she is pleasant. She's uh not stressed at all. And it's good when you start young like this and they uh get very familiar. Over here Kimmy. Here Kimmy. Here's more. There's more right there. So we have zebra and chicken for her today. Come here. Come here Kimmy. Come here. She wants what she wants. What are you looking for? The cubs are a huge fan of chicken but I'm not. I prefer them eating game meat but it's not always available. I was uh with Gabriel even I he has trouble eating if I hand feed like this. Generally he has a 80% chance more they'll eat it whatever it is I'm offering him. Even if he doesn't like it. Look how dirty you are. You've been playing this morning in the mud. Is your brother playing with your brother? There you go sweetie. Oh it's delicious. This is a zebra rib. Here again I'm demonstrating to Kimmy that I'm a provider rather than a competition. The bones, tendons, sinew and cartilage are very good for their nutrition especially as they're developing. It's best to feed them at their personal designated spots to avoid chaos. Like her mom Kimmy is highly possessive over her food. We failed here and look at Kimmy's reaction. No harm done but now you see why I want the cubs trusting everyone when it comes to feeding them. This possessive food behavior is natural in the animal kingdom and sadly in many cases it's no different for us humans as well. When there's more to share there's less possessive aggression. It's with the smaller bite-sized pieces where you get the overreaction. It's a large enough meal they can share and there's no conflicts. As an example here's a zebra that was culled for their benefit. Yeah not for the squeamish but this is what cheetahs hunt and eat. Feeding time is mostly civil between Abby and her cubs. They share food often without conflict. I've asked the staff to give my cheetahs a variety of foods to sample. There are too many finicky eaters in captive cheetah projects and this helps to feed that. Oh I know it's a little cold I'm sorry. No he's that's not good he's not even eating filets now. Hello hello buddy good boy. Oh what do you think? Oh I didn't like it. Here's some of the variety of foods Kimmy and Kaiser are being introduced to. This is a Thompson gazelle that was hunted for food. There you go there's yours. So I got a zebra leg here to gnaw on. Look at that. That's good. This is Kaiser showing mom what he's caught. Big hit for Kimmy and Kaiser even Abby was in on it a little bit. We had to take it from her. It'll take sissies to get to there. It's really good for them good exercise for their teeth jaws. And Abby's got one. Do you like it Abby? Just like with all cubs food time and play time blend together. Zebra tails are a good introduction to taste feel scent food and play. Even Abby can be entertained by it. Not sure where this came from but it's a deceased pigeon that didn't go to waste. Even dead mice don't go to waste. Yeah one of the house cats caught a mouse. Kimmy's oh she's already opened it up look at that. Cheetahs have an amazing repertoire of sounds they make. Listen to Kimmy annoyed by her brother or mother trying to share her mouse. So she's actually eating I thought she'd play with him. No she's eating the intestines of this mouse. Look at that. See what I mean about sharing these smaller portions? It's not as likely because you personally own that. Sibling rivalry. We made sure Kaiser got a portion of the mouse too. So we had to take it away from uh Kimmy she she had her share. Hey do you like this sweetie? You like that? After a shared meal family bonds are reconnected with a proper facial grooming. And a few love bites. This is a cheetah breeding and rewilding project. To prepare them for their futures we're going to train them how to hunt on their own. Part of that training is feeding them a variety of prey animals they may come across. Here Kimmy surveys the grasslands of some wildebeest on a game reserve next door. The cubs are too young and inexperienced to tackle something so large. So they're being shooed away. Safety first but when the day and time is right they'll have their first hunt. I value life and I don't lose perspective that these predators trade a life for a life. It's the reason I'm introducing the cubs to a variety of game diets. It helps reduce waste from finicky eaters and prepares them for the future in rewilding. In the interim the cubs still enjoy the blessings from mother's milk. you