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, in 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 



Tork &> S.n] 



A CHEETA HOODED 



[Netting Hill 



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

 a sight of the game, and a splendid race ensues 



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 coat 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 tasseled 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." 



