The 2021 Africa Journals, Chapter 33: In Which We See Spots and More Spots, and Save a Few

 

Chapter 33:

In Which We See Spots and More Spots, and Save a Few

 

Baby cheetahs are born with the most epic Mohawk on their backs. In the wild, it protects the babies by camouflaging them to look like a cutthroat carnivore called a honey badger. 

Let's get this out of the way first:   I love cheetahs.   I love their stealth, their grace, their speed.    I love their furry cubs.   I love their narrow, stream-lined bodies.

Where lions are tanks and leopards are Mack trucks, cheetahs are the  Lamborghinis of the grassland savannahs.

I wish the best for cheetahs, but the odds are against them.  Only about five percent of cheetah cubs make it to independence--when the mother leaves her cubs so they can strike out on their own.

So many things can go horribly wrong.   Cheetahs are killed by lions, leopards, hyenas, and so on, even other cheetahs.  Cubs hidden in tall grasses while the mother hunts for food are especially vulnerable.

So, keep at that in mind while I describe what happened today.

The guides locate a cheetah with three cubs resting in the shade of a tree in Naboisho Conservancy.    We watch them for a long while, watch one cub climb a tree and look out at us through a crook in the trunk.

 

 

 

 

Then it decides to descend. This can be difficult for cheetahs  as their claws are only semi-retractable.   You will often see cheetahs part way up reclining branches tree trunks but not as high as leopards.  So, seeing a cub this high in a tree was unusual.

Eyes closed?   Is it regretting its climb?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Safely down and back into the shade goes the little cub.

 

We turn around and go back a short distance where we see another cheetah with two ten-month-old cubs.    THIS is most unusual--seeing two cheetah families so close together.   Female cheetahs tend to be solitary, whereas males will often combine with other males to form a coalition.   A few years ago, five males combined to form a spectacular coalition called the Tano Bora.   Two of those males are now deceased, leaving the three males to hunt together.

This female cheetah strolls casually past a herd of wildebeest.   She is heading towards the cheetah with three young cubs.   That could mean trouble.

 

 

 

 

 

Her two cubs are more interested in playing.

 

 

Eventually, they decide to join their mother and saunter past the wildebeest.

 

 

 

Back at the cheetah with the younger cubs,  the safari vehicles park in such a way as to block sight of them from the approaching cats.   Our driver joins the line up.

Mother cheetah knows what's coming.   Even though the other adult is her sister, this one knows her cubs are in danger and watches warily.

She turns and slinks away, followed by her cubs.

 

 

 

We follow until they are at a safe distance, watch for a while, and then head back to camp, satisfied that our guides saved these cubs,   It's a good feeling.

 

Maybe considering another tree climb?

I have a notebook that I take into the field with me, mainly to jot down names of unfamiliar birds and also special events.   Sometimes I make notes while we  are traveling in the Land Cruisers and the results can be illegible.

The top note reads 2 lions H2O, meaning lions at the watering hole.   Then, cheetah with two 10-month old cubs, and passing the gnus (wildebeest).   The next two?   I still haven't deciphered them, even after referring to the photos that are in chronological order.

Such is life on safari. 

"UFO" refers to an unknown bird--unidentified flying object.

For more about the fantastic five-cheetah coalition, this is a link to an article by Dr. Elena V. Chelysheva and her assistant, Jeffrey Wu   Dr. Chelysheva has been studing cheetahs in the Maasai Mara for a number of years.   I have had the privilege of hearing her presentations a couple times on my visits to the Mara.

/https://africageographic.com/stories/the-power-of-unity-cheetah-coalition-in-maasai-mara/

 

Next:   I don't know yet.