The tiny cheetah cubs that have a slow, gentle start in life
The cheetah is known as the fastest and one of the most beautiful animals on earth. Film of it bringing down prey with its sheer amazing speed has long been a staple of African wildlife documentaries.
Cheetahs give birth to between four and six cubs and nurture them until them 16-18 months old – when they are abandoned.
But its ‘home life’, raising and protecting its young, has been little seen until now, with these incredible pictures showing how a mother raises her litter of cubs.
Cubs are born blind, helpless and unable to crawl.
The cheetah may be a predator, but it is also preyed upon, and recent studies in Kenya and the Serengeti park in Tanzania show that 90 per cent of cubs die before reaching the age of three months.
So a mother cheetah’s maternal role is critical to the survival of the species, which has been considered endangered since the Sixties.
Female cheetahs wash suckle and care for their cubs.
As animals built for speed, cheetahs have weak jaws and small teeth and are unable defend their young against lions, hyenas, jackals, birds of prey, and other predators.
For 18 months, mothers must raise their cubs from tiny, helpless creatures – only ten ounces in weight and less than 12 inches long – into grown animals capable of taking care of themselves.
They cannot walk until they are 16 days old
One day, when she judges the time right, she will abruptly leave them, often while they are sleeping. They have made the passage into adulthood.
These beautiful photos show the first stages of that dangerous journey.
As animals built for speed, cheetahs have weak jaws and small teeth and are unable defend their young against lions, hyenas, jackals, birds of prey, and other predators.
For 18 months, mothers must raise their cubs from tiny, helpless creatures – only ten ounces in weight and less than 12 inches long – into grown animals capable of taking care of themselves.
They cannot walk until they are 16 days old
One day, when she judges the time right, she will abruptly leave them, often while they are sleeping. They have made the passage into adulthood.
These beautiful photos show the first stages of that dangerous journey.
