Young Lessons

Our evening drive turned out fantastically today. After a warm day, the wind had picked up, blowing a cool steady South Easterly in our faces. Cheetah have been elusive of late with mothers moving their cubs regularly and territories changing with the movements of prey species. Devin and Ernie located a mother cheetah with a young cub (I think he must be around 6 months by now) and we joined the sighting to watch them walking, scent marking and sniffing. We were surprised to twice see the mother dash off after a surprised steenbok with less than the usual amount of commitment. We surmised that she had perhaps not expected them and thus lost out on the head start usually needed in a cheetah hunt. A little further on, she hunched down and assumed a classic stalking pose. Usually a mother cheetah will get her cubs to stay put when they hunt as not to ruin the hunt with their inexperience. This cub however was right at his mom’s heels. The pair crept forward and although we could not see what she was stalking we assumed it to be another steenbok. She promptly bolted forwards and we were dismayed to see a female steenbok easily outpace the young cheetah and dash off to our right. Unexpectedly, a ruckus erupted to our left accompanied by the high pitched bleating of a steenbok. It was not the doe that the cheetah had been after but a young fawn. We watched as the mother cheetah repeatedly caught the young animal and allowed her cub to repeat each exercise. It all made sense now, this hunt wasn’t exclusively for dinner, but also an important lesson for the young predator. It seems that you young cheetah has quite a bit of learning to do before he will be capable of hunting on his own. He seemed to be completely lost once he had stopped the steenbok and repeatedly let it go whilst looking at his mother for future instructions. Eventually the injured steenbok found a hollow under a bush, just out of reach of the young cheetah. A few minutes later, the mother mercifully crashed through, and after giving her cub a last chance, proceeded to suffocate the bleating fawn and the two cats fed. (The mother steenbok approached the scene a few times and once it seemed as if the youngster might achieve freedom. The doe came within a few meters of the cheetah. A moving show of motherly bravery.)

Posted: South Africa Wildlife by Rowan Seagers, Date: 16 December 2009

 
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