July 15, 2025

This morning, Nashipae’s daughters Nasieku and Naimutie are together again. Naimutie was the first to break away from the sibling group, spending more than two weeks on her own while Nasieku remained with Nempiris. After Nasieku and Nempiris eventually split, Nasieku spotted briefly near her mother before reuniting with Naimutie three days a go. Since then, the two have stayed together, while Nempiris has moved southwest within the Reserve. Interestingly, Naimutie has been closely following Nasieku, who has become a skilled and independent huntress, though not always a generous one.

When the prey is small, Nasieku shows little interest in sharing, teaching her sister the hard lessons of competition and self-reliance that all young cheetahs must learn as they move towards independence.

© MMCP. All observations, images and videos in this post are our own unless stated otherwise. Please credit appropriately if sharing

July 11, 2025

Naimutie’s attempt to get some food from her sister Nasieku

© MMCP. All observations, images and videos in this post are our own unless stated otherwise. Please credit appropriately if sharing

July 11, 2025

Today, Naimutie appeared from the bush and approached Nasieku in attempt to get some food from her sister

© MMCP. All observations, images and videos in this post are our own unless stated otherwise. Please credit appropriately if sharing

July 11, 2025

If there is enough prey in the area, disturbance from other predators and humans is minimal, and there are places to hide from everyone, cheetahs can stay there for several days. This applies not only to the entire family, but also to former family members who have recently separated. After the breakup of the sibling group, we regularly observed Nashipae’s cubs in different compositions in the same area of the Reserve. And during the last three days, we observed there Nashipae, then also her daughter Nasieku, and today Nasieku was joined by her sister Naimutie, who left her littermates a little over 2 weeks ago. After a long day’s rest, just before sunset, Nasieku caught a Thomson gazelle fawn and carried it far into the field. And when she started eating, her sister appeared from the bushes and walked towards the huntress – at first confidently, then cautiously. Nasieku showed that she was not going to share by growling. Naimutie responded immediately by displaying submissive posture – turned her back and sat down. Over the next 20 minutes, she made several attempts to get closer to the food, but was only able to get a small piece. Judging by her belly, Naimutie hasn’t had much luck hunting in recent days. If the prey had been large, Naimutie would have had a chance to get her fill. Interestingly, while living in a large family, all fur young cubs regularly hunted adult antelopes, but now young females hunt mainly fawns, which is typical for young cheetahs that have recently begun their independent lives.

© Mara-Meru Cheetah Project (MMCP). All observations, images and videos in this post are our own unless stated otherwise. Please credit appropriately if sharing

         

July 10, 2025

Nasieku this evening

© Mara-Meru Cheetah Project. All observations, images and videos in this post are our own unless stated otherwise. Please credit appropriately if sharing