66 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 
THE CHEETA 
Tue Non-RETRACTILE-CLAWED CaT 
Tue Cueeta, 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 
Photo by York & Son] [Notting Hill 
A CHEETA HOODED moe x P : 
The cheeta is not unhooded until fairly near his quarry, when he is given iS in catching the adult animal when it has 
a sight of the game, and a splendid race ensues 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 onacart. 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.” 
