photo credit: jurvetson

King cheetahs are not so exceptional that you can’t see them in zoos (but you may have to travel to meet them). I wondered if it was possible to list of zoos of the world which have at least one of them in exhibition.

• DeWildt Cheetah Research Centre, in South Africa.
• Kapama Game Reserve (South Africa)
• Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo (Australia, NSW)
• Kgosi: animal ambassador from the Wild Cat Education & Conservation Fund in Occidental, California (USA).
• Many king cheetahs are said to be present in some public institutions (and in private ownership) in the Arab Peninsula, where most of the king cheetahs are probably present (if not always easy to view).

Of course, such a list cannot be permanently up-to-date without the help of the readers of YLoveBigCats. Please, feel free to comment to add new locations (or tell when the last king cheetah of a zoo unfortunately died, as it happens sometimes).

Locations which previously had king cheetahs:

• Jama: Canberra National Zoo (Australia) – Was initially acquired from De Wilt Centre
• Singapore zoo in 2004
• Some king cheetahs have been spotted in 2005 around Tshukudu game lodge, in South Africa

If you play Zoo Tycoon 2, you may “adopt” cheetahs. Did you know that, with the help of some chance, if you adopt a sufficiently large number of cheetahs, the game will offer you a king cheetah (easily recognizable by its fur more striped than spotted)?