Species: Cheetah | Location: Hwange, Zimbabwe
We were incredibly excited to see a mother and son cheetah. We followed them to a spot about 100 feet away, the location of an impala carcass that the mom had killed earlier in the day. Cheetahs stress their small hearts so hard when they are running to catch prey that they don’t eat right away, but take some time to recover. The mom opened the skin of the carcass with her teeth, and ate for a while, then her son joined in. They ate the flesh first and saved the organ meat for last, because the smell of breaching the organs would draw vultures and other predators trying to steal their meal. The cheetahs seemed very cautious. Each one would eat for a while then startle, sit upright and look searchingly around until, apparently satisfied, it resumed eating. As I took this shot the mom was gazing suspiciously right at me. We sat for more than an hour, entranced by the cheetah. This was more than I had ever hoped for.
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