February 23, 2025
Our long-term observations of cheetahs in the Maasai Mara ecosystem have revealed the extraordinary importance of areas with dense bushes. In such places, females can more easily raise litters because they more successfully hide from lions and hyenas, the cheetahs’ main competitors. But most importantly, in the bushland, cheetahs can successfully and regularly hunt for prey from a short distance, saving energy and time. This is important for both young animals and old ones or those who temporarily unable to quickly chase in open terrain due to their injuries. And Nashipae is a shining example of this. For the past month and a half, the Nashipae’s family has spent most of the time in the park’s closed areas, where their disturbance is minimal. After the cubs discovered their mother being courted by two males, they spent the first two days hunting, but returned to the mother in the evening. Since the female was unable to follow the cubs, on the third day they began to wander further and further in search of prey and safe places to spend the night, relying only on themselves in hunting and encountering predators. The skills they learned from their mother helped them survive and occasionally hunt successfully. If the adults or young family or coalition members lost contact with their group-mates, they always return to the place where they last saw each other. Since February 14, both Nashipae and her cubs checked the field where the males had separated the family on different days. As soon as Nashipae entered the area with dense bush, leaving the males behind, she began hunting on her own. And although her injured left paw has not completely healed, hunting adult Impalas at close range helped the female regain her strength. The family finally reunited this morning, and the experience of living independently has been an important lesson for the cubs. If Nashipae’s mating with the Tano Bora males (or just one of them) was successful and results in pregnancy, Nashipae will leave her cubs within the next two months. However, this could happen sooner if her offspring decide they are ready for independent life, as happened to Nashipae’s mother, Rani, when her three 18-month-old cubs Neema, Nashipae, and their brother left their mother in 2016.
