Atheno

Some of you might remember when I was here last year and I fell in love with the cheetah cub, Atheno. He was about 4 months old then, fiesty, cuddly, and wild, depending upon the moment. Here's a picture of him and me then.

Well, he's all grown up now. He hasn't filled out yet--very skinny--but he's tall and lanky. He's staying in a huge enclosure out to the side of where the 3 cheetahs stay, so every day at some point, I walk through their enclosure and go to his.

Yesterday when I came through his gate, I called, "Atheno! Atheno!" and he came running from behind some bushes. I flopped down cross-legged on the ground under a tree, and he walked right up to me, licked my face, and then hung his head over my right shoulder. I just wrapped my arms around his neck and gave him a big hug. How magical it is to embrace a cheetah!

Then he started to purr, so I pulled my camera from my pocket, put it right in front of his face, and filmed it. I hope you can hear it.