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David Letterman Meets a Cheetah - and Learns What Cheetahs are Scared of (VIDEO)
by Oliver Miller, posted Sep 10th 2010 6:30AM
Jack Hanna is a famous wildlife expert, and a longtime friend of David Letterman. He appears on Letterman's show several times a year, always bringing a random exotic animal along with him. Tonight on the 'Late Show' (weeknights, 11:35PM ET on CBS), Jack arrives with a one-year-old cheetah, and plops the enormous creature right on top of Dave's desk.Jack also brings along a type of animal that cheetahs are "deadly afraid of," but you might have a hard time guessing what that animal is. Cheetahs can reach speeds in excess of 70 miles per hour; they kill their pray by snapping their throats. The big cats are fairly deadly. So what would scare a cheetah? A lion? A crocodile? A blue whale?
While backing away from the cheetah in terror, Dave suddenly turns and says this: "My god, there's a dog here, for heaven's sake." And there's your answer! Yep, cheetahs are intimidated by dogs -- by a certain type of dog, to be specific. Hanna has brought along an Anatolian Shepherd, one of the oldest breeds on the planet -- dating back some 6,000 years. The dog doesn't look very scary. Rather, it's more of a cute, medium-sized, happy-looking thing. But strangely enough, Anatolian Shepherds are used to frighten off cheetahs ... and also to save their lives.
Hanna explains that cheetahs are an endangered species in Africa. The big cats are shot or poisoned by farmers, because the cheetahs eat all their livestock. There is a danger that the wild animals might be killed off completely. To counter this, conservation groups introduced the Shepherd dog into the area. The Shepherds drive off the cheetahs and protect the farmer's livestock, so the farmers no longer have to kill the cheetahs. Such a simple plan, but so far it's kept the beautiful yellow-and-black cats from going extinct.
However, Dave points out that the cheetah in his studio isn't scared by the dog at all. This is true. The cats and dogs only fight in the wild. If the two animals are raised together in captivity, they will bond, protect one another, and act like they are the same species -- which is pretty cute. In fact, the cheetah is so relaxed around his Shepherd that he pretty much purrs the entire time ... which is pretty adorable too. We just hope that the gigantic cat stays away from Letterman. It would be a shame if he got eaten.
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