The Original Cheetah From Tarzan Has Died

Yes Baby Boomers, we are sad to say that The Original Cheetah From Tarzan Has Died. We all grew up with Tarzan movies and every kid knew who Cheetah was.

Photo: Johnny Weismuller, Cheetah and Maureen O’Sullivan

Cheetah died December 24, 2011 of kidney failure and was cremated.

Cheetah would have been 80 years old which is very rare for a chimp to live that long.

Where most kids now a-days think that Cheetah is a slick, cool cartoon cat that does commercials for a cheese snack called Cheetos.

The outreach director at the Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbor, Debbie Cobb, stated that her grandparents acquired Cheetah around 1960 from Johnny Weissmuller/”Tarzan,” and that the chimp appeared in Tarzan films between 1932 and 1934. During this period, Weissmuller made “Tarzan the Ape Man” and “Tarzan and His Mate.”

I used to live down the street from Johnny Weismuller during this time (1960′s) and he did not have Cheetah at that time.

There is more discrepancy about Cheetah-there are those in Hollywood that say a chimpanzee by the name of Jiggs or Mr. Jiggs played Cheetah alongside Weissmuller early on and that that chimp died in 1938.

Cheetah was a major star among other animals at his time and whether or not Cheetah played second banana to Johnny Weismuller and Maureen O’Sullivan is debatable.

BBAC would like think that Cheetah was the Chimpanzee that died this month, that he lived a long and happy life. Eating bananas and making his silly laugh at people that came to see him.

For the full story of “The Original Cheetah From Tarzan Has Died,” go to Yahoo.com.