Roger Williams Park Zoo Cheetah Intrigued by Kid’s Batman Costume

The Roger Williams Park Zoo & Carousel Village posted an adorable video on its Facebook page on Monday, October 25.

A zoo member shared a video of a cheetah showing interest in her son dressed head-to-toe as Batman for Halloween over the weekend. The cheetah can be seen running in the enclosure up to the boy, staring at him, and then attempting to reach him by biting at the glass that separates the two.

We reached out to Roger Williams Park Zoo’s staff for comment on the encounter. Vicki Scharfberg is the Director of Marketing and PR at Roger Williams Park Zoo. She gave us some insight into the animal's behavior in the video.

“The cheetah in the video is Johari,” Scharfberg said. “She will be eight years old on Saturday, November 6. The reason for her reaction has a lot to do with the child being small and in costume. In the wild, cheetahs look towards smaller animals as they are less threatening. His being in costume most likely elicited a play response that in the wild is akin to pouncing. Playful pouncing is the first step in a cub learning how to hunt.”

No children or animals were harmed in the making of this video, but it did give us a good laugh. Johari is certainly the star of the show, but the little boy's reaction to a cheetah trying to get to him is priceless.