The also-rans: Cheetah Mum

by Darren

In the second of our big cat posts today, here’s a female cheetah from the Masai Mara in Kenya. She’s bringing up a very young cub which you’ll no doubt see in future posts as Louise is planning to publish her top 10 of my images and she was very taken with this pair.

She’s got a tough job. Some place cheetah cub survival as low as 5%, mainly due to predation by lions and hyena. It’s a hard life out there on the savanna and one she has to face alone, male cheetah don’t tend to hang around to bring up their young.

The other thing I remember about this cheetah is the number of safari vehicles crowding around. Even when she decided to leave many followed her, while we instructed our driver to move away. Many times on safari the driver feels under pressure out of a duty to the guests to get close for great views, but there are always times when we have to make that judgement. If you’re on safari and you feel the situation is too crowded and having a negative effect on the animal you’re watching, ask your driver to move away and encourage others to do the same.