成功加入福斯特獵豹家族
10 月 3 日星期日，我們的 2 周大雄性獵豹幼崽被轉(zhuǎn)移到俄勒岡州溫斯頓的野生動(dòng)物園，并介紹給他的寄養(yǎng)獵豹家庭。我很高興地說進(jìn)展順利，野生動(dòng)物園的工作人員相信他在第一個(gè)晚上就喂了幾次奶！
在與他的新家人安頓下來之前，我有幸陪伴他從東到西。周日清晨，食肉動(dòng)物管理員維姬·萊克 (Vicki Lake)
載著我和我的幼崽從弗吉尼亞州弗朗特皇家的史密森尼保護(hù)生物學(xué)研究所 (SCBI) 前往賓夕法尼亞州的華盛頓縣機(jī)場(chǎng)。在那里，我和小熊登上了
LightHawk 的航班。 LightHawk
是一個(gè)保護(hù)性非營利組織，它與志愿者飛行員合作，通過北美的飛行動(dòng)物、保護(hù)科學(xué)家和決策者來推進(jìn)保護(hù)工作。
這只幼崽在從賓夕法尼亞州到俄勒岡州的大約
6
個(gè)小時(shí)的旅程中表現(xiàn)出色。雖然他睡得不多，但他確實(shí)讓我喂他兩次。我們降落后，驅(qū)車大約一個(gè)小時(shí)即可到達(dá)野生動(dòng)物園。他們的動(dòng)物護(hù)理團(tuán)隊(duì)從寄養(yǎng)獵豹家族的窩里帶來了一些干草，將其放入幼崽的運(yùn)輸車中。在過去的兩周里，這只幼崽只被人和毛絨動(dòng)物包圍。為了增加他成為養(yǎng)母的機(jī)會(huì)，耶洗別接受了他，他需要聞起來像獵豹！
一到野生動(dòng)物園，我們立即將幼崽介紹給他的新家庭。在寄養(yǎng)家庭的最初幾個(gè)小時(shí)里，他在窩里閑逛。耶洗別非常有耐心，繼續(xù)把他帶回幼崽堆。最后，他加入了其他幼崽，從那時(shí)起一直是這個(gè)家庭的一員。
雖然這是我們對(duì)這只幼崽的 #CheetahCubdates 的結(jié)束，但我們對(duì)這種寄養(yǎng)配對(duì)的成功感到興奮。我要感謝整個(gè) SCBI 團(tuán)隊(duì)，感謝 LightHawk 和 Wildlife Safari 與我們合作實(shí)現(xiàn)這一目標(biāo)。當(dāng)然，非常感謝從第一天起就一直關(guān)注這只幼崽故事的所有人。我們期待很快在 SCBI 出現(xiàn)更多獵豹幼崽——敬請(qǐng)期待！
CheetahCubdate: Cheetah Cub Successfully Living with Foster Cheetah Family
Oct. 06, 2021
This cheetah cubdate was written by Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute biologist Adrienne Crosier.
On Sunday, Oct. 3, our 2-week-old male cheetah cub was transferred to Wildlife Safari in Winston, Oregon, and introduced to his foster cheetah family. I am happy to say it’s going well and the Wildlife Safari staff believes he nursed several times during his first night!
Before settling in with his new family, I had the honor of accompanying him from coast to coast. Early Sunday morning, carnivore caretaker Vicki Lake drove the cub and me from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) in Front Royal, Virginia, to Washington County Airport in Pennsylvania. There, the cub and I boarded a LightHawk flight. LightHawk is a conservation non-profit that works with volunteer pilots to advance conservation, through flying animals, conservation scientists, and decision makers across North America.
The cub did wonderful on the roughly six-hour trip from Pennsylvania to Oregon. While he did not sleep much, he did allow me to feed him twice. Once we landed there was about an hour drive to Wildlife Safari. Their animal care team brought some hay from the foster cheetah family’s den?placed it in the cubs’ carrier. The cub was only surrounded by people and stuffed animals for the previous two weeks. To increase his chance of foster mom, Jezebel accepting him, he needed to smell like a cheetah!
Once at Wildlife Safari, we immediately introduced the cub to his new family. For the first several hours with the foster family, he wandered around the den. Jezebel was extremely patient and continued to bring him back to the cub pile. Finally, he joined the other cubs and has been part of the family ever since.
While this is the end of our #CheetahCubdates on this cub, we are thrilled by the success of this foster pairing. From the entire SCBI team, I would like to extend a thank you to LightHawk and Wildlife Safari for working with us to make this happen. And, of course, a huge thank you to everyone who has been following along on this cub’s story since day one. We’re looking forward to more cheetah cubs at SCBI soon – stay tuned!
