Cheetahs Don’t Like Water

Guides in the Mara have names for the more significant animals. They call this cheetah mother of six young cubs Kisaru. No litter this large has been born in the reserve since 2010. After our trip ended, a litter of seven was spotted! Young cubs sport a mohawk of fluffy hair, called a mantle, that helps to camouflage them in tall grass. Their chance of surviving to adulthood is only about 30% due to several factors including predation by larger cats, particularly lions.

 

Female cheetahs are solitary, and raise their cubs alone. It can be a serious challenge providing meals for so many mouths. They have to hunt in their weight class, targeting smaller game, predominately fleet antelopes like impalas and Thomson’s gazelles. When we first located Kisaru, she and her brood were sunning themselves in full view atop a termite mound. The cubs wrestled and played until eventually hunger kicked in. Kisaru stalked off in search of prey, chirping softly to tell her cubs to follow.

 

A large herd of impala spotted the cats and went into alert mode, ears swiveled forward, watching intently as she strolled casually through the bush. Bigger cats like the lions will give up the hunt if they know they have been spotted, but the cheetah relies on its amazing speed more than the surprise factor. Eventually, Kisaru zeroed in on her target and burst into chase mode. Photographing a cheetah chase is a real challenge when you don’t know how the action will explode – when, in which direction, and with speeds that can reach 70-75 mph!

 

This particular chase was a close call but the impala escaped unscathed and Kisaru returned to her brood empty-mouthed. Energy reserves depleted, she retired to the shade of a tree to recoup while the cubs resumed their antics.

 

In contrast to the solitary females, male cheetahs often form up into groups called coalitions. A particularly famous coalition in the Mara is The Five Brothers. The Masai believe that actually three of the cats are brothers from one litter and the other two from a different litter. But they live and hunt as a team which enables them to tackle larger game. More than once we saw this band of brothers effectively take down a wildebeest, strolling casually through a herd establishing their strategic positions, then attacking and mobbing the chosen victim while one cat reached underneath to clamp onto its throat and suffocate it – a technique that we saw used repeatedly, an effective way to shorten the struggle.

 

In one instance, hyenas had anticipated the hunt and lurked nearby until the kill took place. They immediately moved in and drove the cheetahs off. Hyenas have deadly strength in their jaws. Their bite power at 1000 psi is ranked #8 in the natural world (#1 is Megalodon, #3 is Tyrannosaurus Rex!). The cheetahs are no match for them and they know it. Having done all the work of hunting and killing the wildebeest, the cheetahs ate no more than a mouthful before submitting to the hyenas with only a snarl in protest.

 

The Five Brothers moved on from their stolen meal, traveling with purpose but taking several time outs along the way. They congregated near a lone tree and spent a lengthy period of time sniffing the trunk and marking it repeatedly with their multiple sprays. Eventually, they came across a lone female at a waterhole and surrounded her, clearly interested in mating. She would have none of it, making her displeasure clear, and ultimately they let her go. 

 

Continuing the trek, they reached a river that needed crossing. Cheetahs don’t particularly like water, and this obstacle in their path created some terrific photo ops! Perched on a promontory overlooking the river, one by one they leaped off the cliff down to the water’s edge. From there, they tiptoed across all available stepping stones and sand bars before committing to that final splash needed to ford the river.