From a young age cheetah cubs learn to hunt by shadowing their mother. This means that often young cheetah cubs will chase other animals around the plains, just to gain experience, whether they would be considered prey or not. In one morning in Ndutu we witnessed a 7 month old pair of cheetah cubs chase zebra, wildebeest, warthogs, a jackal and several species of birds. Finally their mother caught them a Thompson's gazelle fawn to allow them to fine tune their tripping techniques. Even once they had succeeded in tripping the fawn the cheetahs looked confused as to what to do next. Mum came to the rescue, biting the fawns neck, so that they could enjoy lunch.
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| An over-exited cheetah cub chasing part of the migration. |
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| The same cheetah cub bravely chasing a Jackal. |
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| The cheetah cub looking a little less brave as the Jackal turned around and barked at him. |
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| One of the cubs successfully tripping the fawn. |
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| The cheetah mum and gazelle mum watched on as the cheetah cubs chase the fawn. |
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