Mara Cheetahs

Over the years I have made the acquaintance of several cheetahs and their respective cubs.

The cheetahs I have grown up with are very interesting creatures. I have seen the nature and the nurture in their lives.

Sadly the mortality rate for cheetah cubs is high due to natural causes, lack of food, predation by others and the harshness of life.

Cheetahs often have several cubs, as many as five, but few reach maturity, but there are exceptions.

Malika and Amani are the exceptions, they both often raises several cubs.

The mortality rate is equally high for the adults and as I write this I am conscious that both these females are no longer alive. Malika died while trying to cross the Talek river while it was in spate and was drowned. Amani I believe in a fight with a lion while trying to protect her cubs.

I recall two events, one with each that I will remember for a long time.

I came across Malika sheltering under a bush with her two dosing cubs. I parked up nearby and waited. I knew that she would eventually hunt for food for the two cubs so waiting was the order of the day. The cubs were now about 18 months old and would soon be leaving their mother to make their own way in life. At this stage much of Malika’s time to teaching the cubs how to hunt and what to do when they are successful.

After sitting for about three hours Malika stood up and headed off at speed towards the horizon. I was surprised at the sudden movement but realised that she had seen something I hadn’t. About 25 minutes later she reappeared with a young tommy in her mouth. I thought that this was food for the cubs but I was mistaken. The tommy was still alive and was deposited in front of the cubs for them to chase and capture. This exercise went on for over 90 minutes and presented me with some very strong images. There’s a strange thing that happens when photographing an event like this, I started to wish that the two cubs would stop tormenting the tommy and put it out of it’s misery. Where does the photographer stop and the nature lover take over. I have to tell myself that this is how it is in nature but it's a hard sell. Eventually either hunger or boredom set in and they dispatched the Tommy.

On another occasion I found Armani with her three young cubs sheltering under a bush. Again the waiting began. She was looking for something, this time it was food and she spotted a small herd of Thompson gazelle and made her move. The cubs were alert and followed her. At this age they can be a problem as they just want to play and don’t always realise the seriousness of what is happening. The cubs interrupted several attempts by Amani and eventually she put them under a bush and disappeared ahead of me. I saw her suddenly take flight and was in pursuit of a large male tommy. It was all over in a few strides and the tommy was brought down and dispatched. The three cubs were called and they strode over to Amani while she held on to the kill.

Nature is often quite brutal but I have to remind myself ……. “A life for other to live”