Marlice Van Der Merwe Teases And Pets Wild Cheetahs (VIDEO)

Marlice Van Der Merwe is simply incredible.

The Namibian conservationist has been working with injured and orphaned animals for years, but is perhaps best known for her stunning work with cheetahs. As the video below suggests, Marlice has a special relationship with the large cats, even rendering them docile towards the end of the clip.

Van Der Merwe has worked on animal film productions since she was 13, and the 34-year-old has even worked on productions with the likes of Angelina Jolie. In 2008 "Marlice - A Vision for Africa: A film by Philip Selkirk" detailed her work with large African cats.

It's hard to believe her skill with these potential killers, but nonetheless her work with them is incredible. The cheetahs seem to even be intimidated by her.

WATCH:

Comments

[totalliberal]

09:26 AM on 05/06/2011

Cheetahs: "Why isn't the food running away? Very confusing."

[dansup]

12:45 AM on 05/05/2011

I'll handle cheetos, even tho they make my fingers orange

[TigersEye]

11:06 PM on 05/04/2011

Cheetahs were tamed and trained in ancient times as pets and hunting animals for Egyptians, Persians and Indians. Comparing a cheetah to a lion or tiger or other big cat isn't really accurate because you don't see game preserves where people can walk among the lions and tigers or leopards and interact and pet them like you see with cheetah preserves. Cheetahs are far more mild but still, they are wild animals and must be respected and treated as such.

[Jon Crowell]

10:26 PM on 05/06/2011

You can also find videos of her hugging wild lions.

[Zorroshorse]

07:48 AM on 05/04/2011

She's too cute to attack! I'd gladly let her tease me. She obviously knows what she's doing...and cheetahs aren't grizzlies!

[dna user]

07:43 PM on 05/03/2011

Do we really need another "Grizzly Man" type incident? I don't know what she thinks she is doing, but I hardly see a scientific value to this.

[FTracy3]

04:30 PM on 05/03/2011

Obviously confused by the stripes on her shirt and thought she was a tiger.

[Cherie Lyon]

01:13 PM on 05/03/2011

COOL, but if the psychology of the animal is understood, this is a little less alarming than it seems. (I'll stick to house cats, thanks, which actually behave more like cheetahs than lions.)

The Cheetah is considered one of the more timid big cats. Their instinct is to chase down prey. What Marlise was doing confuses them, acting like neither a predator nor running away. It looks to me as if she is in a preserve or zoo - I agree that it is unusual to see so many in one place.
It also looks like she was feeding the one she petted bites of raw meat. Still a very interesting video.

[BebeLush]

12:40 PM on 05/03/2011

I don't like it. Very dangerous and deceiving. These animals are still wild, less we forget.

[scorpioman]

08:44 PM on 05/02/2011

dam lucky they weren't hungry

[C Jason Smith]

08:27 PM on 05/02/2011

You go grrl.

[MFM008]

05:04 PM on 05/02/2011

she should have taken a spray bottle....

[toxico]

04:32 PM on 05/02/2011

I doubt these are actually wild cheetahs. Cheetahs are solitary and territorial, especially females. Males are solitary most of the time too but do form small groups (usually siblings).

[bad spelling grammar]

02:07 PM on 05/02/2011

It is a fact that people can transmit disease to cheetahs just by touching them and this scientist should know better. I love Cheetahs like anyone else but touching a wild animal for the sake of pleasure is wrong and most biologist would agree that they should limit human/ animal contact to where it is absolutely necessary. I do know there has been a increase in human cheetah interaction to help the survival of the species by giving injured and sick cheetahs medical attention (to help there reduce their mortality rate) and to find out why disease is spreading so quickly among there species. All these reasons have some benefit to the cheetah’s well being but touching them for fun has little to no positive affect.

[Deep Thinking Man]

01:49 PM on 05/02/2011

i totally with you both Reb and T...animals should be left alone !!!!!!...i also believe that if humans are capable of understanding animal behavior...there'd be a lot less killing on both sides !!!!

[Rebrebreb]

12:28 PM on 05/02/2011

I would have to read more about the serious aspects of her work but I have to say - this bummed me out. What was the purpose, to get that close to them and invade their space? Unless animals are in permanent sanctuary (can't be rehabbed and returned to the wild) it seems wrong to force interaction with humans. They seem stressed and this must conflict with so many of their natural impulses. What if they are approached by other humans who don't have their best interests in mind? Now she has acclimated them to human presence. Not sure how I feel about this but more googling and dialoguing is in order before I write it off.