Rare Sighting of Cheetah Hunting with Cubs

Wildlife volunteers on iMfolozi Game Reserve in South Africa had an exciting start to their two weeks volunteering with conservation organisation, Wildlife ACT.While driving the Okhukho Loop, our volunteer Steven Barnes did a great job by spotting a cheetah with four beautiful cubs. According to our wildlife monitor, Antoine Marchal, no one has ever spotted this cheetah or her cubs before. This was definitely a very rare sighting.They seemed to be resting when suddenly the mother decided to do some cheetah hunting for impala which were feeding nearby. As the family approached, they were detected and the hunt was a failure. Maybe next time... nonetheless it was an incredibly special sighting as there are less than 900 Cheetah left in the wild in South Africa!

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Cheetah cubs[/caption]Text by: Liviu Nechita and Kevin KatzPhotos by: Jennifer Ayres

CHEETAH HUNTING FACTS:

• When running, cheetahs use their tail to steer, like a rudder for a boat.
• Cheetah are the fastest mammals on land being able to reach speeds of 120km/h over short distances
• Their prey mainly consists of small to medium sized antelope. Cheetah hunting impala is very common