Mother Cheetah has been hanging around the central part of the reserve with her four cubs the past few weeks. The cubs are around eight months old and are fully weaned, thus putting a lot of pressure on her to provide food for four growing youngsters. The young cheetah are not yet able to hunt and to make things even more difficult for their mother, they trail behind her and often give her position away. Female cheetahs are solitary animals and have no help in raising their young. They often have big litters as the young ones don’t always survive, allowing for at least one or two individuals to make it to adult hood. This particular female is an excellent mom and has previously successfully raised three cubs before this current litter. She has been able to keep her youngsters safe from lions and hyenas who will often kill them if given a chance. Cheetahs are active during the day and this gives them a slight advantage over predators like lions and spotted hyena, which are mainly active at night. While the lions and hyena are sleeping the cheetah is able to do it’s hunting and eat its kill in peace. At night the cheetah will go up into the rocky outcrops or the thickets to sleep, staying well out of the way of other predators.
