Lions Track Cheetah Mom With 3 Babies

Written By Carina a' Porta

This cheetah family were having an enjoyable day in the wild, when it started to heat up in the bush. While taking shelter from the harsh sun, the mother cheetah left her three cubs at the top of a large termite mound for a bit of quiet time. Being youngsters, the three little cheetahs would intermittently play, despite the heat.

Cheetahs in the wild have an incredibly high infant mortality rate. As shocking as it sounds, there is research to suggest that only 5% of cheetah cubs make it to adulthood, however, these studies do vary. In reality, there are a lot of factors that determine the likelihood of a cheetah cub’s survival, but sadly, the odds are typically stacked against them.

So, having such a good cheetah mother with three very healthy and active sub-adult cheetahs on their property is an absolute privilege for Londolozi, a private game reserve within the world-renowned Kruger biosphere. 

And at the moment, the cheetahs are certainly the stars of the show. Lonodlozi frequently features them in their virtual safari. On the day of the incident, however, the day began with a sighting of other ‘celebrities’ of the game reserve, the Kambula lion pride. These lions are renowned for being big game hunters.

The Kambula Pride has also been known to eradicate all forms of competition within their territory. It was only a few months ago when a viral video surfaced of the pride finding a very famous leopardess. The encounter did not end well for the leopard, unfortunately. At the time, the leopard was a mother of two cubs, which made the situation even more heartbreaking.

The sighting started out as being typical, with the lions lazing around and chasing after the shade. So with not much to see there, the virtual safari team carried on with their drive, where they found the mighty Ndhzenga male lions not far from the pride. At this time of day, it came as no surprise that the boys just so happened to also not be doing much.

So, the plan of action was to head back to camp and wait out the midday heat. But a call came in before that could happen. It was from the rangers on foot, they had come across the cheetahs (the mother cheetah is known as the Makatini female. Together with her cubs, they are called the Makatini family). Not only had they found the cheetahs, but they had witnessed the mother cheetah successfully catch an impala ram. A battle that was certainly no easy feat for the mother cheetah.

With as much excitement as there was for the situation, Sean Zeederberg, who heads up content production at Londolozi, knew how close the hunt happened to the location of another lion pride (the Ntsevu Pride, who are recent breakaways from Kambula, and are just as formidable).

The concern that Sean had was that swooping vultures coming in towards the impala catch would alert the nearby lions to the locations of the cheetahs, creating an incredibly dangerous situation.

Cheetahs are at the bottom of the predator hierarchy, and any encounter with other predators often results in them losing their meals. However, when cubs are involved, the story becomes different. Especially when it comes to lions, in this case, who are vastly superior in strength and possess more numbers, and could easily force the mother into abandoning her babies.

Once the cheetah mother caught her breath, she did eventually drag her catch under a bush. However, at that stage, the scene was already littered with vultures, and Sean had a feeling that her efforts were sadly too late. So Sean, who had already arrived, decided to stay around and watch what was to unfold. 

The cheetahs started to feed. But with the large audience around them and the strong winds that were dampening their sense of smell, the cheetahs were on edge and were highly alert. 

That was probably a good thing, because it was only a few moments later when there was a huge disruption just behind the cheetahs.

All of the vultures took off in a panic, and that could only mean one thing: lions! And even though the cheetahs were on edge, they had not noticed what was happening yet.

Sean was watching in absolute terror for the cheetah family’s safety. The cheetahs still had no idea, but luckily, so too were the lions clueless. Then, almost as if the mother cheetah had picked up a sixth sense (it was likely a smell that she caught whiff of), she burst into a frantic panic, which caused her cubs to panic too.

Much to the relief of Sean (watching this play out at the edge of his seat), it looked like the lion remained totally blissful. And the cheetahs, not even fully aware of what the threat was, chose to flee in the right direction. The situation could have turned extremely dire had they chosen to run in any other direction.

They trotted off, away from the lioness, and immediately turned to look back at the danger. With her cubs now out of the way, the mother cheetah decided to give up her location and let out a high-pitched growl, immediately alerting the lioness.

This would have a two-fold effect. First, as a message to the lions, letting them know that they have been seen, and that an ambush is no longer possible. Secondly, it would divert all of the unwanted attention to the mother cheetah, giving her cubs, who were nowhere to be seen at this point, time to evacuate. 

The lions spent time looking for the cheetah, but that didn’t last long. With a free meal on the table (the impala that the cheetah had caught) and with cubs to feed, the lionesses just wanted to secure the area and get to eating. And that they did!

As for the cheetahs. Yes, they lost a meal. But with a high degree of potential for so much more to go wrong, it is safe to say that they walked out as the victors, too. Albeit a little hungry.

Perhaps the real losers of this story were the vultures. With only one little impala to feed so many lions, it’s unlikely that the scavengers will be left with much, if anything at all.

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Carina a' Porta
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