Rain is one of two female cheetahs in Pilanesberg National Park. Last year she had a litter of four young, of which three still survive. It’s so great to see these youngsters grow and thrive when only 30% of cheetahs born in the wild survive into adulthood!
Photographing wildlife can be very frustrating. Not only do you need to find the wildlife, which sometimes happens and sometimes does not, the animals need to position themselves in a photogenic way as well. In a majority of the sightings, especially in a park that does not allow off road driving, the animal is far away. Even if they are close like these cheetah cubs, you still have to find that one spot that gives you an amazing shot – and sometimes that spot doesn’t exist. So here are two cheetah cubs, looking in the right direction, quite close to us, photographed through a tree…
I guess I need to try again soon!
A young cheetah looks back over its shoulder. Cheetahs are weaned at the age of six months, but usually stay with their mother for some time after that. After 17 to 20 months, the mother can have another litter, so that often marks the end of the time of the youngster with the mother. Although young cheetahs from as young as six months go after hares or young antilopes, they often are only able to bring down a kill on their own when they’re 15 months or older. The odds for cheetah cubs to survive into adulthood are not so good. Lions are major predators of juveniles. This particular young cheetah was left to fend for itself for just one day when it was killed by predators…
Two cheetahs expressing their affection at the National Zoological Gardens in Pretoria, South Africa.
This is our world. It is cruel. It is harsh. It is unfair. It hurts, while others are smiling with their bellies full. And it’s not just this cheetah. Humans are even worse. The cheetah does what he must do. Humans have a choice.
What do we do with that choice? Still there is inequality. There is pain inflicted on the innocent. And so little mercy for those who are seeking a better place in life. Because we benefit from the way things are. Because we don’t know where to start to change them.
And still. There is beauty in this world. There is beauty in this bloody cheetah. It gives me hope. There must be something to redeem the world. (Or Someone to redeem us…)