09/04/2021
Among other predators, cheetahs are the most vulnerable – in the Mara, from 64 to 76% of cheetah cubs die within the first three months. A large number of cubs in a litter – up to 7, can be a compensation for the high cub mortality. The first 1.5 months, when the litter is hiding in a “den” – in tall grass, in rocky, bushy areas or in ravines, the young can accidentally be found by various creatures inhabiting the area, especially when the mother goes hunting. In search of suitable prey, the female sometimes walks 5-6 kilometers and returns after feeding to maintain milk production. After the cubs are introduced to solid food, the mother must ensure that she hunts at a distance that either she can carry the carcass (usually of a small prey), or that her cubs can follow her to a hidden carcass. By following the mother, the cubs can encounter all the inhabitants of the area, including baboons and birds of prey. However, most of the cubs are attacked by lions and hyenas. On September 1, we found out that both cubs (female and male) of 8-year-old Imani were killed by a pair of lions. Usually, lions do not eat killed cheetah cubs, but that day we observed for the first time the male lion feeding on the cheetah cub’s carcass for two hours, while the lioness killed and left the dead cub in the grass. Imani was calling the cubs, apparently, she did not see what happened to them. Finding in the grass the little body of a cub killed by a lioness, she tried to reanimate it for some time. Both in captivity and in the wild, in the process of licking a dead cub, the female encounters fresh blood and from that moment begins to eat the body. Imani was no exception. She never found the second cub, which the lion ate, and continued to search and call the next day. Hearing no answer, she covered 5 kilometers and hunted twice that day – both times successfully and both times on Thomson’s gazelle fawns. To date, Imani has successfully raised 3 cubs – two sons and one daughter Selenkei in 2016. Since then, Imani has been constantly losing litters, including the previous one in March 2021. At this age, the female can successfully conceive, but it becomes more and more difficult to raise offspring.
