Archive for the 'Acinonyx' category

This is not everyday that a new travel agency opens specialized in African wild life and nature (and its big cats). The end of 2008 brings us this event: Creation of Africa Exploration.

The founders went through other African adventures and escapades; This is a good warranty of a fully re-assuring experience and knowledge.

We’ll keep in touch.

Copyright (C) B.Tredez

Copyright (C) R.Rey

These three young cheetah males are actually very powerful, hunt together, take advantage of any kind of possible prey.

In this case, one of them caught an isolated young gnu, just after the rain at the end of the afternoon. What happened seemed quite normal: They need to kill the prey (quite commonly by strangling it) and start eating (young and sensitive minds may not appreciate a quite gory natural scene of such a raw dinner). Since the cheetahs are not very powerful animals (they are fast but slender predators), they keep checking around them because once they are disturbed by other predators (usually hyenas) they leave the scene and do not return.

The two hyenas we see in the third photo did know about this kind of natural rule. They were arriving quite certain that they could easily grab the carcass and eat the kill so easily won. Unfortunately, these three cheetahs are definitely not playing by the book. As soon as the hyenas appear, one of them did not merely leave the kill, but ran to the hyenas and started chasing one of them, kicking it.

This led to a very unusual sight: Three hyenas, totally disoriented, lying low and whining a few feet from the carcass they could see, they could smell, but were not allowed to taste.
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After a month of November where I’ve shown a number of photos about cheetahs, I just wanted to provide a link to the excellent article in Wikipedia about Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus).

A young male, in the end of the afternoon, just before going for a wildebeest dinner.

Cheetah - Copyright (C) 2008 Yves Roumazeilles
Cheetah - Copyright (C) 2008 Yves Roumazeilles	Cheetah - Copyright (C) 2008 Yves Roumazeilles
Click on the thumbnails to enlarge them

Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus, Guépard, Guepardo), Masai Mara, Kenya, September 2008.

The Parc des Félins of Nesles (France) as received on the 30th of October, two male cheetahs arriving from the Al-Bustan Zoology Center of Sharjah (United Arab Emirates). The managers of the Parc des Félins hope that these new members of the feline community in Nesles, after their initial acclimatation to the environment of French Seine-et-Marne will allow to obtain births of young cheetahs which have been awaited eagerly for quite some time.

They are named Skop and Taï.

Skop

Taï

Source: Parc des Félins.

This female cheetah has her five cubs following her through the grass savanah, while she goes hunting for them.

Cheetah female and cubs - Copyright (C) 2008 Yves Roumazeilles	Cheetah female and cubs - Copyright (C) 2008 Yves Roumazeilles
Cheetah cubs - Copyright (C) 2008 Yves Roumazeilles
Click on the thumbnails to enlarge them

Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus, Guépard, Guepardo), Masai Mara, Kenya, September 2008.

Cheetah, stretching - Copyright (C) 2008 Yves Roumazeilles	Cheetah - Copyright (C) 2008 Yves Roumazeilles
Click on the thumbnails to enlarge them

Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus, Guépard, Guepardo), Masai Mara, Kenya, September 2008.

Cheetah - Copyright (C) 2008 Y.Roumazeilles	Cheetah - Copyright (C) 2008 Y.Roumazeilles
Click on the thumbnails to enlarge them

Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus, Guépard, Guepardo), Masai Mara, Kenya, September 2008.

Super!

While in Kenya, I found a little cheetah family: A mother and her 5 cubs (only a few weeks old).

Cheetah and cubs - Copyright (C) 2008 Yves Roumazeilles
Cheetah and cubs - Copyright (C) 2008 Yves Roumazeilles	Cheetah and cubs - Copyright (C) 2008 Yves Roumazeilles
Click on the thumbnails to enlarge them

Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus, Guépard, Guepardo), Masai Mara, Kenya, September 2008.

Unfortunately, from what I heard, three of the cubs have been killed by hyenas a few days after we left Kenya. Wonderful little furry animals are not only cute; They are a prey for larger less nice predators.

The other cubs will grow up to become very fast killers, too.

It was a Delta Airlines flight from Portland to Atlanta (in the USA) which whose transporting two cheetahs in a cage in the luggage sotre of the plane. But a luggage worker was faced with one of them freely wandering out of cage.

The Atlanta zoo provided its support to tranquilize the animals and allow collecting the luggages in conditions more in line with the usual work conditions of the airport.

Source: MSNBC.