Cheetah siblings kill springbuck

We were close to Fort Dam when we saw two young cheetahs, a male and female whose mother had been killed by a leopard a couple of months ago. Happy to see that they had made it this far, we settled down to watch for a while. A short distance away was a small herd of springbuck, unaware of the cheetah siblings. We watched. And waited. Our patience was rewarded when the two predators singled out a young springbuck and gave us spectacular views, zig-zagging right past us and kicking dust in our faces! We were interested to see how they fared, as they were too young when their mother was killed to have been taught properly. Between them they succeeded, repeatedly knocking the springbuck to the ground. After a brave struggle it was chased into a deep drainage line and finally killed. If you take a closer look at the second photo you'll notice that it appears to be blind in its right eye.

Posted: Kwandwe by Phill Steffny, Date: 10 May 2008

 
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