09/19/2020
Over the past two months, two new males have appeared in the northern part of the Maasai Mara National Reserve, and both had been spotted before in the Mara Triangle. Outside the Mara, cheetahs are very shy and wary. Such animals are less successful in hunting and courtship in presence of the vehicles. Our long-term studies revealed that to be successful in the Mara, cheetahs have to be tolerant to tour cars, not avoid them, but also not be dependent on them. Both new males, spent most of their life outside of the Mara, and therefore are not yet used to tourists following them. One male – named recently Oloti (“Young Boy” in Maa), was first seen in the Mara Triangle in the beginning of July. Another male – 3-year old son of Naserian and grandson of Kakenya, was born in the Mara Triangle and spent most of his life in Tanzania with his mother and littermates. His mother adopted the son of her sister Naretoi, who have died in November 2018, and for several month, Naserian had two cubs males – her own son and the adopted one. The union did not last long, and by March 2019, Naserian was spotted with her biological son, while adoptee started his independent life in Tanzania. The son of Naserian appeared in the Reserve in the beginning of August 2020. Since then, he has been seen twice with different females – in August with Neema – daughter of Rani, and in September with Imani, who displayed all signs of estrus: rolling, marking and calling for a male. The courtship with experienced female in front of vehicles has become a challenge for the shy male. While Imani was calmly walking close to the cars and crossing roads in between vehicles, shy male was keeping a distance of more than 25 meters from people. Usually, it is a male who takes initiative in mating, follows the female and encourages her to display the right posture for mounting. In case of Naserian’s son, it was 8-year old Imani, who was trying to inspire the male. It is difficult to tell if mating had taken place, but on the third day, Imani was looking for the lost male and calling for him. As there was a pride of lions in the area, the couple could have been separated by these predators, who pose deadly danger for cheetahs. These two single cheetah males from the Mara Triangle, alongside with two male coalitions (Mkali with Mwanga and Ruka with Rafiki), have been roaming in the area, previously occupied by a single male Olchorre, who had to move all the way to the Lemek conservancy. These provides all individuals the opportunity to participate in breeding and enrich Mara cheetah’ genetic pool.
