SUBIRA

A CHEETAH

Subira the cheetah was born September 22, 1993 at the Winston, Oregon Wildlife Safari. She only has three legs. While in the womb, her umbilical cord wrapped around her right hind leg, cutting off the circulation. The leg never developed properly and had to be amputated. Since it would have been impossible to leave her with others of her kind, she came to live at the Shambala Preserve in July, 1994. When she first arrived, Subira got around by scooting on her backside. To encourage her to stand and walk, her handler rigged a special harness so the cheetah cub could be picked up like a suitcase and held with her feet touching the ground. Subira soon got the idea and learned first to walk and then to run.

For several hundred yards, the cheetah (acinonyx jubatus) can travel faster than any other land animal, reaching speeds in the vicinity of seventy miles per hour. Even Subuira on her three legs has been clocked at thirty-five miles an hour! The coat of the cheetah is yellowish and tawny in color with markings that consist of round black spots, and two black "tear lines" that run from its large, beautiful brown eyes to its mouth. The body is quite slim, and the tail, useful in navigating, is more than half the length of the head and body. The weight of the average male is about 125 pounds, with the female slightly smaller. The shoulder height of the cheetah can reach 30 inches. The length from nose to tail tip is from 6 to 7 feet. Although the cheetah is now classified as a big cat, it cannot roar. Cheetahs purr-- very loudly. Subira can be heard the length and breadth of Shambala's lakeside picnic area when she chooses. The cheetah is also the only cat of any size that cannot retract its claws; it is believed that these claws work much like cleats on a track shoe to push the animal off to a fast start.

The territory occupied by cheetahs in Africa has dwindled. Once, abundant in South Africa, cheetahs are now reduced to scattered pockets there, chiefly in scattered sanctuaries - Only in Kenya, Tanzania, and adjacent parts of East Africa do cheetahs remain in significant numbers, and still they are only a fragment of those that existed in the past. Latest estimates put the cheetah population between 1,000 and 1,500 in the wild. Habitat destruction, very little genetic diversity, and excessive hunting for the cheetah's lovely spotted pelt have caused it to vanish from much of its original range, which once covered most of Africa and the Middle East. Cheetahs have not been seen in India, for example, since 1951.

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Check out our exciting "Adopt-a-Wild One" program!