66 



The Living Animals of the World 



THE CHEETA. 



THE NON-RETRACTILE-CLAWED CAT. 



THE CHEETA, or Hunting-leopard, is 

 the only example of this particular group, 

 though there was an extinct form, whose 

 remains are found in the Siwalik Hills, ir 

 the north of India. It is a very widely 

 dispersed animal, found in Persia, Turkestan, 

 and the countries east of the Caspian, and in 

 India so far as the lower part of the centre 

 of the peninsula. It is also common in 

 Africa, where until recent years it was found 

 in Cape Colony and Natal. Now it is 

 banished to the Kalahari Desert, the Northern 

 Transvaal, and Bechuanaland. 



The cheeta is more dog-like than any 

 other cat. It stands high on the leg, and 

 has a short, rounded head. Its fur is short 

 and rather woolly, its feet rounded, and its 

 claws, instead of slipping back into sheaths 

 like a lion's, are only partly retractile. 



Mr. Lockwood Kipling gives the follow- 

 ing account of the cheeta and its keepers : 

 " The only point where real skill comes into 

 play in dealing with the hunting-leopard 

 is in catching the adult animal when it 

 has already learnt the swift, bounding onset, 

 its one accomplishment. ' The young cheeta is not worth catching, for it has not yet learnt 

 its trade, nor can it be taught in captivity. . . . There are certain trees where these great 

 dog-cats (for they have some oddly canine characteristics) come to play and whet their claws. 

 The hunters find such a tree, and arrange nooses of deer-sinew round it, and wait the event. 

 The animal comes and is caught by the leg, and it is at this point that the trouble begins. 

 It is no small achievement . for two or three naked, ill-fed men to secure so fierce a capture 

 and carry it home tied on a cart. Then his training begins. He is tied in all directions, 

 principally from a thick rope round his loins, while a hood fitted over his head effectually 

 blinds him. He is fastened on a strong cot-bedstead, and the keepers and their wives and 

 families reduce him to submission by starving him and keeping him awake. His head is made 

 to face the village street, and for an hour at a time, several times a day, his keepers make 

 pretended rushes at him, and wave clothes, staves, and other articles in his face. He is 

 talked to continually, and the women's tongues are believed to be the most effective of things 

 to keep him awake. No created being could withstand the effects of hunger, want of sleep, 

 and feminine scolding; and the poor cheeta becomes piteously, abjectly tame. He is taken 

 out for a walk occasionally if a slow crawl between four attendants, all holding hard, can be 

 called a walk and his promenades are always through the crowded streets and bazaars, where 

 the keepers' friends are to be found ; but the people are rather pleased than otherwise to see the 

 raja's cheetas amongst them." Later, when the creature is tamed, " the cheeta's bedstead 

 is like that of the keeper, and leopard and man are often curled up under the same blanket ! 

 When his bedfellow is restless, the keeper lazily stretches out an arm from his end of the col 

 and dangles a tassel over the animal's head, which seems to soothe him. In the early morning 

 I have seen a cheeta sitting up on his couch, a red blanket half covering him, and his tasselled 

 red hood awry, looking exactly like an elderly gentleman in a nightcap, as he yawns with the 

 irresolute air of one who is in doubt whether to rise or to turn in for another nap." 



Photo ly York & Son] [Notting Rill. 



A CHEETA HOODED. 



The cheeta is not unheeded until fairly near his quarry, when he is given 

 a sight of the game, and a splendid race ensues. 



