Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Why are cheetahs more tolerant of humans than other large cats?

i read somewhere that scientists now claim that cheetahs are so relaxed that they can be domesticated. An experiment was conducted to see the tolerance level of wild cheetah against humans in their same enclosure. A few men, with only a tall stick (to defend themself if attacked) entered the enclosure of wild cheetahs and moved very slowly or stood still at a distance of about 100 feet from the cheetah. The cheetah never attacked the men with sticks, and wasn't interested in them. The experiment concluded that as long as humans don't run or bend near cheetahs, they will not be attacked. However, the same experiment when conducted with lion or tiger failed badly --- when the men entered their enclosure with tall sticks, the lion and tigers got so enraged, that they charged towards them -- the men then ran inside the van. The tigers/lions would attack human even if he didn't run or bend, but cheetahs won't, how come?

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