The Cheetah is the fastest land mammal and documenting her fastest sprint has been one of my quests. It has been so fabulous on the Kusini plains, of Southern Serengeti, where the grass is so short. The habitat is perfect for the cheetahs and they spend their time here where there is an abundance of Thomson’s gazelles and Grant’s gazelles from July till the beginning of the Migration in November.
On researching the cheetah I was thrilled to find out on how the common name came about and it has a Hindi and Sanskrit connection. So I thought I should include it in the post.”The vernacular name “cheetah” is derived from the Hindi word चीता (cītā), which in turn comes from the Sanskrit word चित्रकायः (citrakāyaḥ) meaning “bright” or “variegated“. The first recorded use of this word has been dated back to 1610.[4][5] An alternative name for the cheetah is “hunting leopard”.[6] The scientific name of the cheetah is Acinonyx jubatus.[7]” Source Wikipedia
The Cheetahs body is designed for speed, and can reach an average speed of 64 Km in short sprints and some time around 70 Km.
We were able to spend some quality time with 4 subadult Cheetah’s 3 female and 1 male who were just seperated from their mother. They were identified by the Serengeti research project as 4 cubs of 3810FC1 who is the daughter of Eleanor. They were born around Namiri Plains around January 2016; and I could record this sequence.
The sequence below is an attempt to catch a Thomson’s gazelle.
She breaks the sprint when the Tommies flee.
One evening the cubs were very hungry and ambushed a scrub hare.
A futile chase of a warthog
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