13 Oct, 2008

A pregnant impala becomes the cheetah's latest prey and possibly a meal for her cubs.

We had an exciting afternoon in Botswana's Moremi Game Reserve today. We recently filmed a cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) at a kill in the Xakanaxa area, and were happy to find her again today with another impala kill.

This female is the first cheetah we've seen in the area. Cheetahs are usually found further south where the landscape is open and flat and water is scarce.

We found the cheetah just after lunch resting in the shade under a large fever-berry tree (Croton sylvaticus).

The heat was exhausting, and she was panting quickly to cool herself down. The spotted feline seemed restless, and hardly slept. Instead she scanned her surroundings, listening and looking at all the sounds and movements around her.

She slowly got up, limping on her wounded back leg, and moved along the floodplain. We followed her for a short while as she scanned the forest. She had definitely seen something, and was very interested in the area around the base of a sausage tree.

She sat upright, staring intently into the forest. After a closer look, we too could see a large herd of impala (Aepyceros melampus) eating sausage tree flowers, unaware of her presence. She lay in the shade on an anthill for a short while and then had another look at the impala.

She got up and moved closer to the herd, watching every movement and planning her attack.

We kept our distance so as not to interfere with her attempted kill, and before we knew it she had bolted off into the forest where we could only hear the distress barking of the impala.

There was no sound of a kill or a struggling impala, but the cheetah disappeared. We quickly drove into the forest and scanned under the shrubs and trees.

Eventually we caught a glimpse of the cheetah with a pregnant female impala in her mouth. She had the impala by the neck and was strangling it to make a quick kill.

She looked exhausted after her adrenaline-fuelled run, and sat next to her kill, panting for quite a long time before resting in the shade of another anthill. She left the kill under a small fever-berry tree, and every now and then she would come back to the carcass and pull and tug at its rear end, breaking the skin open and eating small amounts of flesh.

A few hours went by and she still hadn't eaten a substantial amount of her kill. We believe this cheetah has two young cubs and we're hoping she will bring them to the kill tomorrow morning.

This cheetah is a truly beautiful creature. She is so elegant and regal in appearance, and despite her rather serious-looking injury, she is proving to be an incredibly efficient hunter. We look forward to seeing more of her in the future.

– by Julie King, Earth-Touch crew © Earth-Touch

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