When the four cubs had toyed around with the tiny buck for a few minutes, the mother cheetah stepped in to assist. She did in a moment what her cubs had failed to do, showing her little ones how it is done.
Francis explained the incredible sighting happened during an evening game drive. There at the side of the road was a female cheetah with four small cubs – possibly two months old.
Baby cheetahs take on baby buck
“We stayed with them for some time and the Mom seemed to be on the lookout for just a snack,” said Francis. It just so happened that a baby Grant’s gazelle strolled past at that moment, in search of its mother.
In a most unusual encounter, the baby cheetahs approached the baby buck. It was like seeing a hunt play out on a ‘mini scale’ in that the key players were all baby animals.
Unlike with adult cheetahs, the young cheetahs were clumsy and playful in their approach to attacking the buck. They lacked the stealth, strength and speed of an animal adult, however, their moves were still focused and driven by instinct.
At one point, the small cheetah pulled the buck down, and appeared to almost hug its tiny prey.
The buck eventually managed to stand up. It staggered onto uncertain limbs and began to walk gingerly across the grassy plain. However, the cheetah cubs weren’t about to relent. They soon had the buck surrounded again.
The buck didn’t attempt to run away, possibly dazed by all of the attention. This was when the mother cheetah interrupted the scene and arrived to investigate.
Mother cheetah enters the scene
“Of course, the Cheetah mom noticed the whole thing and started stalking towards them,” said Francis. “However, she found the baby gazelles so weak, enough for her cubs to play with. Thus she did not kill the gazelles just yet, instead, she called her babies to take part in a hunting lesson.”
It so happens mother cheetahs are also good teachers and will train their cubs to make a kill, beginning with soft targets. They might even help their cubs to hone their hunting abilities by bringing back live prey for them to practice with.
They typically starts with easier targets, such as a newborn antelope, allowing the cubs to hone their skills by chasing and capturing the animal.
This is exactly what Francis witnessed!
Francis said this was his first time witnessing cheetah cubs of this size and age attempt hunting. Generally one would see this behaviour from a cub around the age of 5 to 8 months old.
However, these little cubs got an early start to their hands-on hunting preparation.
Francis spoke of how nature could be heart-breaking, but one should never interfere with what might be playing out in nature. “For instance, trying to rescue the baby gazelle from what may seem brutal in the human eye. Therefore, instead, sit quietly and observe and enjoy the very rare behavior, because it also comes down to the survival of the cheetah population in the African bush.”