Chapter Six - Cheetahs of the Serengeti
Gore Warning - some of the pictures below are a little blood and gutsy.
Sick bags are available in the back of the seat in front of you...
The migration is a phenomenal event. No, not an event, it is continuous, on the move all of the time, a perpetual motion.
Each year hundreds of thousands of births. Each year balanced by hundreds of thousands of deaths.
Few live to old age.
Some end here...
The Hunt
Cheetahs are stunning creatures. Superbly fast. Superbly graceful. Superbly lithe.
If you are lucky enough to see one in the wild, this is how they tend to look.
This is a female relaxing in the dappled sun, shaded by a convenient acacia tree.
Just relaxing and cleaning, constantly cleaning.
They need to clean themselves a lot. You are soon to find out why.
Bleh.
She left the shelter of the tree to sit by this small bush.
Maybe she thought that it was good camouflage?
Beautiful as they may be, they have to eat. They don't eat pretty little bushes. They are obligate carnivores. They have to eat meat or ... they die.
She is on the prowl on the vast Serengeti plains. Here is a higher density of wildlife than anywhere on the planet. This may sound easy, but for individual animals, dinner is still hard to find. Dinner has a habit of buggering off.
Gazelle! The ideal meal! But just too far.
Despite long patience, she never gets close enough. The gazelle have seen her and remain out of range.
Time to give up.
Pack away the camera and await another day.
And so to another day, another cheetah. This guy we spotted sitting up in the middle of nowhere. No sun today. No shelter necessary. But food. He needed food. His gut was empty.
This hungry fella turned out to be hanging with his two brothers. All with empty bellies.
There was no prey nearby, but the migration was everywhere. And these guys were on the hunt.
In the far distance they were watching a thin black line.
It was a line of wildebeest.
Over a period of twenty minutes they gradually approached that distant line. From time to time they were spotted by several wildebeest, but those moved on, along the thin black line, to be replaced by others.
Others that were unaware of the presence of death.
They moved with slow precision. These cats may be the fastest land animals on earth, but they could move extremely slowly and patiently when needed.
As they neared their quarry, they split, one to the right, two to the left.
Pincer movement.
Eventually they were so very close, almost under the hooves of the wildebeest.
They struck!
That photo was taken from a very, very long way off. Full focal length and heavily cropped.
So how about we get closer huh?
The beast was still alive, with a cheetah's jaws clamped around its neck.
His two brothers looked on, licking their lips.
They could wait no longer. They started to eat.
The wildebeest was still alive, still held down, struggling, in immense pain.
Dead. Finally. After nearly ten minutes of extreme torture. All three could now have their fill.
Thus is nature.
They gorged themselves for over an hour. In that time, another predator come scavenger had noticed. This hyena wanted a share, but he was alone.
The cheetahs saw him off.
The hyena called for his comrades. A pack of them would fight off the cheetahs. But none were near enough to hear his howls of frustration.
They continued to eat. Until there was little left. With all the meat gone, they even started on the intestines...
They left some bone and rumen and went off to have a postprandial siesta.
The hyenas took the bones, the vultures took the rumen.
There was absolutely nothing left of this wildebeest after a mere two hours.
This is nature's recycling at its most efficient. And gruesome.
And where did it all go? Just look at this gut.
And so, one of natures most beautiful creatures.
Beautiful no more...
Now you understand why they spend so much of their time grooming themselves.
Enough with the gore I hear you cry! Let's have some more cuddly stuff!
Your wish is my command. Coming next:
Wow! Pity I had strwaberry jam with my toast.
ReplyDeletePresumably, every living creature on the Serengeti gets eaten by another at some stage ... whether young and defenceless, exhausted and hungry, old and ill, or just unlucky ... apart from those that drown or are run over by safari vehicles! Hmmmm At least this poor wildebeest's unfortunate sacrifice has been witnessed by us.
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