Cheetah And Dog Are Best Friends   Oddest Animal Friendship   Love Nature - video Dailymotion

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00:00 The sight of an exotic cat in a domestic pub might look odd, but in this case, the odds

00:07 even out.

00:09 Our story begins with 7-month-old KJ.

00:13 This adorable little guy was born in captivity as part of a cheetah conservation program,

00:18 but sadly for him, his mother abandoned him.

00:23 Unfortunately cheetahs are very flighty animals, so even in captivity or the wild, you can

00:28 have moms that abandon litters, reject cubs.

00:34 Cheetahs are usually born with siblings, who become hunting partners.

00:38 The concept of "ride or die" is something cheetahs take to heart.

00:43 There are 18 captive-bred adults living here.

00:46 The cheetah sustainability program aims to build a population of the big cats to conserve

00:51 the species, but adult cheetahs rarely accept others into their group, especially outside

00:57 cubs.

00:58 Sarah wasted no time searching for KJ's sidekick.

01:02 We put emails out to animal shelters and our local animal shelter right here, 15 minutes

01:09 away from Wildlife Safari, contacted us saying they had a puppy, amazingly enough, the exact

01:15 same age as KJ.

01:18 Meet Rhino.

01:20 Sarah felt this playful little guy had the makings of the perfect partner for her spotted

01:24 orphan.

01:25 But don't dogs have an ongoing beef with cats?

01:28 Yeah, maybe, but cheetahs might be the special exception.

01:34 Animal care professionals have been pairing captive cheetahs with companion dogs since

01:38 the 1980s.

01:39 Man's best friend has a knack for not only calming us down, but the anxieties of the

01:45 typically shy cheetah too.

01:47 After their second set of vaccinations at 9 weeks of age, we introduced Rhino to KJ

01:53 and it was instantly best friends.

01:56 Cheetahs are nicknamed the dog of the cat family.

01:59 They share a lot of personality traits and behavioral traits and can actually mesh very

02:06 well.

02:07 If you bring in a dog, you see a much happier, calmer, laid back cheetah.

02:12 A year and a half later, the two wouldn't know what to do without each other.

02:17 But they've had their issues.

02:19 They do have some personality and communication gaps to overcome just being different species.

02:28 You think of a dog, a playing behavior, he gets down on his front elbows with his butt

02:32 wiggling in the air, that means I want to play.

02:35 In the wild, a cheetah will get in that same position, slap the ground, and that's a very

02:42 threatened behavior for a cheetah.

02:46 Yeah, you could see how that'd be tricky, but they've managed to overcome their differences.

02:53 Still though, their arrangement begs the question, who's top dog?

02:58 Cheetahs are very skilled hunters, but they are submissive species.

03:03 The dogs just naturally have a more confident, domineering personality and Rhino's kind of

03:10 been in charge of the duo since day one, and that's not going to change.

03:18 We see more puppy characteristics rub off on KJ than vice versa.

03:23 As far as him playing in the water or standing up on his hind legs to wrestle with Rhino

03:28 a little bit, and that's just a behavior that you would never see coming out of a cheetah.

03:39 Soon enough, KJ will get a room upgrade to a larger enclosure next to other resident

03:44 cheetahs.

03:47 Sarah takes him over to test the waters, and his emotional support buddy is right behind

03:52 him.

03:53 I'm going to crate these guys up, and then we're going to take them up to our cheetah

03:59 drive-through.

04:00 It'll be their first time seeing other cheetahs on common fence lines, so we're pretty excited

04:07 to see how that goes.

04:10 In the wild, were KJ to meet a cheetah who was a complete stranger, he would know to

04:14 act wary and defensive.

04:16 Sarah hopes his instincts haven't all gone out the window, because if he gets it wrong,

04:21 the adults may become anxious or aggressive.

04:26 We're seeing some of his instinctively natural behaviors come out.

04:32 Some ground slapping, some hissing.

04:38 He's very confident for his age and for his size.

04:41 A lot of that he gets from Rhino.

04:44 He's kind of lost some of his cheetah social skills growing up with a puppy, but instinctively

04:50 they do come out when they are around another cheetah.

04:55 As he matures, KJ will have a hand in saving his species, and it might not have been possible

05:00 if this odd friendship hadn't helped save him first.

05:05 Mayans and Tigers, widely known to be the two top cats of the feline family.

05:10 In the wild, what you're seeing here is as unlikely a sight as you'll ever see, but at

05:15 this sanctuary in Georgia, this odd pairing actually came naturally.

05:21 This is Liberty, an African lioness who arrived here when she was just a year old.

05:26 Liberty was saved from a private facility where visitors paid a post for photos with

05:30 her.

05:31 Spared from life as a picture prop, her days were about to become far less labor intensive.

05:37 But without a family, this gorgeous girl was in need of some company.

05:42 She really did need a forever home where she would be safe and not exploited.

05:47 But we didn't have any other lions for her to live with.

05:50 And so we were faced with a problem, because lions are very social animals, and they have

05:56 to have that pride, that family to live with.

06:00 Typically, a pride of lions features about 13 members.

06:04 Social interaction is a huge part of their development and well-being.

06:09 Liberty didn't care much for toys or show interest in really anything.

06:13 To thrive in captivity, she was clearly in the market for a best friend.

06:18 No one could have predicted that the neighbor next door might be the perfect fit.

06:23 Their lily and Liberty lived in separate enclosures right next to each other, so they could see

06:27 each other, smell each other, kind of get used to each other.

06:32 Whoever said curiosity killed the cat never saw a social experiment quite like this.

06:37 They would play through the fence, they would rub up against the fence and try and snuggle

06:43 with each other and touch each other.

06:46 Now make no mistake, pairing two apex predators of different species is not considered good

06:51 practice.

06:52 But the staff here have seen it unfold beautifully once before.

06:57 Fifteen years ago, the sanctuary took in an oddball band of young friends.

07:01 Leo the lion, Baloo the bear, and Shere Khan the tiger.

07:06 Confiscated from a drug dealer who was keeping them illegally as cubs in his house, the team

07:10 here decided not to break up their gang.

07:13 And as their story trickled out into the interwebs, the trio became an internet sensation.

07:18 They didn't see any differences with each other, they learned the other species' language,

07:24 and it was really incredible to witness.

07:28 Baloo is the only one left standing today, but he acts as a constant reminder that when

07:32 it comes to finding friendship, anything is possible.

07:38 So Allison and her team made the move to give Liberty and Tiger Lily a shot at a proper

07:42 life together.

07:43 Here you go.

07:45 We were all a little bit nervous just because anything can happen with animals.

07:50 It was great.

07:51 There were no issues.

07:52 Both Tiger Lily and Liberty seemed so happy that there was no longer a fence in between

07:58 them.

07:59 It's not all a cakewalk.

08:01 Liberty can be a bit grubby when it comes to feeding time.

08:09 Lions have to compete to feast on their group's kills.

08:12 But tigers, on the other hand, are solitary hunters and eat at their leisure.

08:17 So the old girl has no problem letting her young BFF call dibs.

08:23 They have different interests, sure, and they're at different stages of their lives, so it's

08:28 not like they need to do everything together.

08:30 But as you can see, the gift of this otherworldly friendship means a lot to them.

08:37 I really think that they will get along just fine for the rest of their lives.

08:42 Bring it back on up here.

08:44 Having a companion changed Liberty's life immensely.

08:49 She would not be nearly as happy today.

08:52 She wouldn't be as healthy today.

08:56 You big goofball.

08:59 Tiger Lily is her pride.

09:02 It might be a pride of one, but that's her pride.

09:05 (Tiger growls)

09:11 (Birds chirping)

Cheetah And Dog Are Best Friends Oddest Animal Friendship Love Nature

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