Talk:Cheeta

Number of Cheetas

I believe that the part of Cheeta was played by a number of apes in the Tarzan films. Any info?Steve-O 22:00, 28 December 2005 (UTC)

Apparently not. The BBC news article today on his 74th birthday indicates that he was in a "dozen" Tarzan films with Weismuller. As it happens, IMDb lists exactly twelve Weismuller Tarzans. - Paul Drye 17:23, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

IMDB has an entry for Cheeta. However it doesn't say he played Cheeta in the 1966-1968 Tarzan TV series with Ron Ely. Does anybody know who played Cheeta in that series? I can vaguely remember watching the credits, but cannot bring this to mind.--DrWhoFan 15:16, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

Dead or alive?

This article states simultaneously that Cheeta is dead and still alive. Can someone please find out? - Richardcavell 09:03, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

No it doesn't. It states he has passed a certain age; that isn't the same as saying he's passed on! BPK 06:40, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

I just saw Cheeta on Headline News celebrating his 74th(!) birthday. He had cake and Diet Coke. MrBlondNYC 12:29, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

REPORTED DEAD

I heard a radio report within the past three months (c. April-June 06) that Cheeta had died at age 74.

Must be erroneous. an article by Maggie Downs in The Desert Sun newspaper for Oct. 4, 2006, has Jane Goodall meeting Cheeta the day before in Palm Springs. Cheeta is shown as still alive and well. BPK 06:02, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Today (well, a few days ago at least) Cheeta died. However the real birth date is a bit off, a chimpanzee reaching 80 years? I don't believe that claim. 188.23.92.162 (talk) 21:22, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

Birthdate/First Movie Appearance Must Be Wrong

Cheeta's birthday is being widely reported on April 9/10, 2006. However, most sources are also indicating that he was in Tarzan the Ape Man. IMDb shows that that movie was released on March 25, 1932, so one of these two dates, or else Cheeta's appearance in the movie must be wrong. This is an appeal for someone with definitive sources to chip in! -- Paul Drye 17:36, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

Don't you mean to "chimp" in? HA!

OK, this is confusing, but bear with me. I decided it would be best to go to the source for this one, since to the best of my knowlege this issue is never clearly addressed in print anywhere. I e-mailed CHEETA (the organization referenced in the article, not the ape!) and asked them if they could throw any light on the problem. I received the following reply:

Hi Paul: Jiggs (CHEETA) first movie was in 1934 in TARZAN AND HIS MATE. As a baby was on the back of Jiggs # 1 in the movie. Dan

This largely clears up the issue, though it is somewhat confusing that Cheeta' caretaker refers to him as "Jiggs (CHEETA)". I have extrapolated the explanation that Jiggs was his name at birth, and that he was renamed Cheeta after the role that made him so famous. This does not seem unreasonable, as non-humans don't have the attachment to their names that humans do! However, the main issue of when the Cheeta being discussed in this article was born has been clearly addressed, and I've changed the article to reflect this.

Incidentally, I realize that I'm skirting the "no original research rule" here. However, since my research was no more than a simple confirmation of fact from one of the principals, I'm comfortable with this and I hope anyone else reading this is too. -- Paul Drye 05:56, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

One more e-mail to CHEETA cleared up the name issue:

Hi Paul: We have always called him CHEETA. Dan

Once again, I've edited the article to reflect this. -- Paul Drye 14:46, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

Oh yeah, I also removed the picture that was here because that does not appear to be the Cheeta that is the subject of this article. Rather, it was the earlier Cheeta, who played the role in the first two Weismuller movies. -- Paul Drye 06:18, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

Oldest Primate

The article states, "(Cheeta) is cited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's oldest primate." Yet are humans not also considered primates? What i'm asking here is wether or not Guinness is wrong, and should this be included in the article if it is indeed innacurate?

I was wondering this too. He clearly isn't the world's oldest primate. So who's wrong: Guiness or the article? Ezekiel. 22:49, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

Presumably Guiness means oldest non-human primate; I have corrected the article accordingly. BPK 04:45, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

Cheeta is male

Someone should include thin in the article as well!

Brazil

Curiously, many in Brazil believes that Cheeta is a she, since that is a female name in Portuguese.

This originally said everyone in Brazil. I highly doubt all Brazilians think Cheeta is female. What about Brazilians who have read the wikipedia article for example? Actually there is no evidence from this article it is many either but I've just left it at that. Also would the word interestingly (or something of that sort) be a better choice? I feel that curiously suggests it's strange or unexpected but given the reason, it doesn't seem strange or unexpected. Nil Einne 13:42, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Is Cheeta a common chimpanzee or a bonobo

What kind of chimp is Cheeta.

http://gamma.fnphoto.com/stories/2156/ <== I'd say common.

Common. A bonobo wouldn't be able to stop masturbating long enough for filming to go on. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.252.71.224 (talk) 23:14, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

Bad habits

This National Geographic article says Cheeta used to enjoy both beer (several per day) and cigars until the early 90's. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/05/0509_030509_cheeta_2.html Probably ain't significant enough for the article, but it's hilarious.. unless you consider what the cigars must've done to his health. (My mind conjures up an image of Cheeta watching his old movies with his grandson, sharing a beer, saying (in chimp) "this here is one of the best scenes I did with Johnny" and puffing on a cigar.) Muad 10:04, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

I don't know if it is where Cheeta got the habit, but Henry Trefflich, the dealer where he came from, taught a few of his primates to smoke. I have seen pictures of them somewhere.Isaac Crumm 02:34, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Is the original Cheeta still alive?

The article is quite clear that there is this one Cheeta born in 1932, playing (albeit in a minor role) in Tarzan the Ape Man, and still alive in Palm Springs. Yet the Palm Springs website features some really cautious phrasing, and I quote: "Our sanctuary's Cheeta is the last in a long line of Cheetas dating back to the first in 1932." Sounds a bit fishy, doesn't it? Classical geographer (talk) 15:54, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

A guy named R.D. Rosen has written an article in the Washington Post on his aborted biography of Cheeta. He concluded that most of the information on the subject – probably including most of the stuff in this article – are BS. See this link [1]. I guess the article should be rewritten. 70.108.226.219 (talk) 18:14, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

The article should be rewritten to be about the chimps (plural) who played the role of Cheeta in the movies, and (separate section) about living chimps about whom the claim has been made that they are (one of) the original(s). The Washington Post article is quite specific with facts about why the article should not be about the chimp for whom claims of an age of 70+ have been made. -- John Broughton (♫♫) 23:38, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

I rewrote the article more or less in accord with the above suggestion, and subsequently separated it into two articles, the current one on the character Cheeta and a separate one on the chimp who originally portrayed him (Jiggs (chimpanzee)). BPK (talk) 18:59, 13 January 2009 (UTC), revised 23 February 2009

It is much better now, because there were several chimpanzees playing the "cheeta" movie version. There is only one thing missing though, and this is the claim that the "real Cheeta" would be of age 80, which is IMHO unverifiable. 188.23.92.162 (talk) 21:23, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

Me Cheeta

I put this section back where it has been for about a year. Please believe me, it is not spam. The book is relevant to the article and the fact that one chimp is put forward as Cheeta for his whole career is relevant to the discussion. David — Preceding unsigned comment added by BollyDave (talk • contribs) 12:19, 26 May 2011 (UTC)

E' morta

She's dead

Obrigado. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 151.33.96.44 (talk) 12:52, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

The newspapers are reporting that Cheeta is dead, but that appears to be another chimp, not the one owned by Dan Westfall of C.H.E.E.T.A. But the newspapers are reporting that a Cheeta at Suncoast Primate Sanctuary just died at 80, and they are reporting it as Tarzan's Cheeta. (http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/12/cheetah-the-chimp-star-of-tarzan-movies-dies-at-age-80/1) This makes no sense to me. Carlo (talk) 16:32, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

Cheeta died Dec 2011

Which of them died? Kittybrewster ☎ 15:02, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

The one claimed to be born around ~1931. (But I dont think that chimpanzee was born there, reaching 80 years when other chimpanzees reach about 40-50 years even in good condition in zoos is VERY very dubious...) 188.23.92.162 (talk) 21:24, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

Some careful and thoughtful edits are needed to update the article. Edison (talk) 05:26, 29 December 2011 (UTC)

There is no evidence that Cheeta-Mike has died and I don't believe any chimp who acted with Tarzan in the original film is still alive. Kittybrewster ☎ 13:01, 29 December 2011 (UTC)

Yes, we need to remove that portion of the article. It appears to be a hoax. --LostOverThere (talk) 11:35, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

and what if it is true and you remove it?--68.231.15.56 (talk) 22:20, 31 December 2011 (UTC)

Rather remove it than not being true. However, adding the references where doubt is expressed and argued, as well as a clear warning note in the text might be sufficient. There are various news sources where background information is stated, e.g. [2]. --VanBurenen (talk) 19:13, 1 January 2012 (UTC)

Nationality

Most Tarzan films are American made. Most chimpanzees playing Cheeta come from America. But they are not of American nationality - apes do not have nationality or citizenship. Furthermore the character is an African ape 'friend" of an Emglish aristocrat. So how can the character be an American?

Merge Jiggs (chimpanzee) in

I've merged the extremely confusing Jiggs (chimpanzee) into this article. Jiggs as an individual who played a small number of roles over a period of 10 years is not notable enough for its own article. It seems like other animals were named Jiggs but that can be dealt with in this article. Cheer, Jack (talk) 13:13, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

Mangani

Althoug of course played by a chimpanzee, Cheetah originally was supposed to be a young Mangani whose parents were killed during the Parker-Holt expedition.80.141.177.30 (talk) 15:16, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

Maybe not nonsense. (I had reverted your comment earlier.) Please explain more. Providing reliable sourcing will help. – S. Rich (talk) 15:26, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

In the first film starring Johnny Weissmüller as Tarzan there was also Cheeta's first appearance. In this film, Tarzan (similarly as described in the original Borroughs-novel) is a member of a tribe of apes that are as tall and heavily built as gorillas but must be more intelligent than chimpanzees because they have a language and call themselves Mangani. This ape tribe - with the exception of Cheeta who doesn't appear in the novel - is played by humans clad as apes. In one scene of the film, Holt - misjudging the situation and also maybe acting out of rivalry because he is in love with Jane - shoots at the apes in order to "rescue" Jane. Cheeta's parents die in this unnecessary massacre and little Cheeta is now an orphan, subsequently becoming an indispensable sidekick of Tarzan for the next two decades. The Mangani tribe had no further appearance in any of the subsequent live action films (not taking into account their one-time revival in the eighties because it doesn't belong to the film series we are talking about) and Cheeta was now mostly thought to be a chimpanzee because he was always played by one and also behaved like one. His - and by the way also Jane's - last appearance was at some point during the Gordon Scott era.Ich Tarzan (talk) 14:00, 23 February 2014 (UTC)

Reliable source: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xvexx8_tarzan-the-ape-man-1932-part-1_shortfilms Watch the very last minute of this stream.Ich Tarzan (talk) 14:28, 23 February 2014 (UTC)

You just made it! (That is, the one year deadline for providing a source. (Just kidding.)) I see the shooting of the parent, but the clip does not go on to say the infant is adopted. In any event, viewing and analysis of episodes by us Wikipedia editors is problematic. Are we engaging in original research when we do so? IOW, I think we need secondary sources. – S. Rich (talk) 17:46, 23 February 2014 (UTC)

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