Hardships of the Hunt: How Cheetahs Struggle to Obtain Prey

oryx can effectively survive without water, and is therefore the national emblem of the desert country of Qatar.

Gerenuks Bashir says, have evolved similar adaptations including nasal breathing, and eating whilst standing on their hind legs to reach leaves other antelope can’t. From the stables, we ride out on horse back. Dik-diks flit away from our track and watch from around bushes as the horses shake their manes. These cute, shy tiny antelopes, a mere snack for a big leopard, are very territorial, marking their territory with scent from the preorbital glands in the front of their eyes. They pair for life and breed prolifically, with a five month gestation. Bashir tells us that “Male dik-diks can kill each other.”

On our drives we come across the delicious prickly pear, a cactus from South America that is growing in proliferation under trees and in great clumps in the savannah. Opuntia engelmannii has plenty of competition in its native environment but here, it has become invasive, snuffing out indigenous, slower growing plants. In Loisaba, they introduced the cochineal beetle, that feeds on the cactus and spreads a virus that would weaken the succulent; but it wasn’t fast enough. Now it is being removed with hands and earth moving tractors. When its sticky thorns and fleshy leaves fall to the ground, new growths spring up. So, killing and burying the plant in very deep pits needs to be carefully monitored.

Loisaba’s newest canvas roofs are tucked into the curved ridge of an escarpment, overlooking Lodo Springs. When we arrive, an elephant is taking a slow walk away from the watering hole up the other side of the valley. In the plains below, the red oat which is the sole reason for the mighty migration that takes place in the south every year, is unusually high after unseasonal rainfall.

This part of Kenya is prone to droughts, which follow failure of seasonal rains. 2010/2011 had seen the worst drought for 60 years. In 2013, on the north eastern boundary of the conservancy, the pastoralists were relaxed, awaiting the short rains. The sun was high in the sky and honey collectors were smoking out bees from their hives, heating up the midday, yet more.

Something happened that

Lioness in Loisaba; BOTTOM: Oryx and Thompson's Gazelles

THIS PAGE CLOCKWISE: Dik dik with prickly pear; Kori Bustard in courtship display; D'Arnaud's Barbets;

sparked some brush nearby. The surrounding dry bushes were ablaze, a gust of wind threw flames outwards to catch on thick grasses and very high winds carried the fire faster still, leaping up to 30 feet. This bushfire burned nearly 25,000 acres of grassland, as well as Loisaba’s tented Lodge and Private House, before it got under control.

As this has always been a working ranch, the tame and the feral have existed alongside each other. Whilst Loisaba may not have the game density of the Masai Mara, here within the conservancy, they encourage walking, riding and exploring it. My daughter takes a mountain bike out with two guides and they ride past Oryx, and through a group of Grant’s gazelles. Both the Thomson’s and Grant’s gazelles live in herds of females and young ones with just one male. Every time we come across a lone gazelle, Bashir asks us to guess if it’s a confused male just ousted from his harem by a contender & still searching for a bachelor herd to join, or one that is fattening himself up for a fight with the current alpha. Now, all three of Elewana’s camps - Loisaba Tented Camp, Kiboko Star Beds where you can sleep outdoors, directly under the seven sisters and Loisaba Lodo Springs are all up and running. We were looked after by a butler and a guide, had a champagne breakfast in a spot by a marsh which we reached by camel and stopped for sundowners and canapés by a campfire at the end of our game drive. Loisaba feels very intimate with its close proximity to its flora, fauna, the luxury tents under the heavens and remarkably attentive service.

There is no evidence of the fire anymore in the verdant landscape with it’s flowing river, full watering hole and frolicking animals. When Bashir tells me he comes from nearby Goto, meaning waterfall, his words ring true, in this otherwise parched north. There are plans to reintroduce rhinos, to save the reticulated giraffe and the very endangered hirola antelope. We meet the canine unit with a couple of very friendly blood hounds who can remember a smell for six months. Yesterday, they were deployed in a nearby village where cattle hustlers dared to work. Today they are resting, because crime in general and poaching has been almost been annihilated.

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By Mark Smeltz

Blackened stalks of grass crunched beneath the tires of the Land Rover as we pulled just off the track to get a better look at a lithe, tawny shape shimmering in the haze of the midday East African heat. A controlled burn had recently surged through this sector of Kenya’s

Maasai Mara National Reserve, and already new shoots of green growth were poking through the charred landscape. But my eyes were fixed firmly ahead, studying the feline form we had pulled over to observe. It was a cheetah, and she was on the hunt. Following her line of sight through my binoculars,

I soon spotted her quarry: a cluster of grazing Thomson’s gazelle, drifting slowly in her general direction as they picked amongst the burnt grass, looking for fresh growth. The cheetah was watching them intently, her body low to the ground in the inimitable pose of the classic hunter.

But there was one complication: a few yards behind her, gamboling about in the dead grass, was a cub.

The cheetah’s cub couldn’t have been more than three months old, not yet weaned and therefore totally dependent on its mother for protection and nutrition. Cheetah cubs are born to litters of three or four, and this cub was almost certainly the sole survivor of a larger group of siblings. So it was no surprise that the little cheetah didn’t want to let its mother out of its sight. As she crept closer to her prey in imperceptible increments, the cub followed—but it had none of her poise, none of her grace, and none of her discretion. And so as

I watched, the drama unfolded in two separate arenas: the gazelles inched ever closer to the hunter and their own doom, while the cub risked giving away the hunter’s position with each undisciplined movement. The minutes stretched into half an hour, and the tension finally ratcheted to its breaking point. The cub broke into a playful sprint, catching up with its mother in leaping bounds. This was too much to ignore, and the gazelles’ heads snapped up in alarm. The prey took flight, and the hunter leapt into pursuit—but the Tommies were still too far away, and the hunt was over before it really began.

This was not an unusual series of events. For cheetahs, most hunts end in failure—and the difference between success and failure often comes down to experience. These big cats become more adept hunters as they age, accumulating skills and fine-tuning their techniques. Strategies like choosing the right hunting environment, locating appropriately sized prey species, and closing the proper stalking distance are all learned behaviors which can contribute to a cheetah’s success or failure on the hunt. But even the most experienced cheetah can’t be guaranteed a kill. Studies have shown that single cheetahs may make less than a quarter of their attempted kills. So what can a cheetah do to increase its chances of putting food on the proverbial table? As it turns out, I’d discover one possible answer just a day later.

Another day, another cheetah— or, in this case, another five cheetahs. As we pulled up to a lone blackthorn in the middle of the midday heat, I was shocked to discover what proved to be no fewer than five individual cheetahs sprawled beneath its scant shade. And these cheetahs were obviously companions: they sought constant contact with each other, resting with their legs and tails intertwined. They yawned

frequently and lolled comfortably in each other’s company, radiating a sense of relaxation and confidence. There could be no question: these were the Mara’s famous “Fast Five.” These cheetahs have earned a fair bit of celebrity for themselves in recent years; their photos are shared frequently among safari enthusiasts on social media, and they’ve featured in televised nature documentaries. They belong to what’s known as a coalition of male cheetahs: a group of related or unrelated males that have formed a tightly knit social group.

But I knew that after reaching about 15 months of age, most cheetah cubs achieve independence from their mothers and begin a solitary lifestyle. So why did these five males form a coalition in the first place? To get some answers, I relied on the expertise of Dr. Elena Chelysheva. She has worked as the project manager of the Mara-Meru Cheetah Project since its inception in 2011, and you’d be hard-pressed to find someone more familiar with the cheetahs of the Maasai Mara. The project works with local conservation

Mara cheetahs

groups to maintain an extensive database of cheetah identifications, and I knew that she’d have the scoop on the Fast Five.

“I actually dedicated my article to the coalition of five males,” says Chelysheva of one of her most recent reports for Swara, a magazine published by the East African Wildlife Society. Her research shows that there are a multitude of reasons that cheetahs form coalitions: they can avoid confrontations with larger predators, gain access to preferential territory, and benefit from having more eyes and ears to detect potential threats. “Cheetah sociality is a very interesting and complex topic,” she explains. Her work demonstrates how this coalition’s leadership role is shared between two different cheetahs. This means that both leaders are responsible for resolving conflicts between coalition members and selecting which prey to hunt. It’s a complex job that comes with its own set of challenges. But there’s one advantage to joining the team that isn’t hard to figure out: by hunting in a group, cheetahs can tackle larger prey species and have a better chance of eating well.

Studies demonstrate that cheetah coalitions of at least three males can successfully obtain prey in about one half of their hunting attempts. While the jury is still out on whether this represents a statistically significant increase, there’s no denying that a big coalition like the Fast Five can hunt larger animals like wildebeest or ostrich. And with larger prey on the menu, they can afford to share their meals. Another hunting-related benefit also becomes apparent when a member of a coalition experiences an injury. Even a minor accident can be a death sentence for a single cheetah, which must be in prime physical condition to hunt successfully. Cheetahs which are part of a coalition, however, can enjoy the privilege of sharing meals with the group while they recover. For these reasons, a fully-functioning coalition is an attractive prospect for many male cheetahs. But even the most robust cheetah coalition can run into unexpected problems when it comes to hunting.

Serengeti Cheetah Project; RIGHT: Serengeti coalition

Regrettably, cheetahs continue to experience interference from human observers. In popular reserves like the Maasai Mara, it’s not uncommon to see upwards of a dozen Land Rovers and minibuses clustered around a single predator. To learn how these “traffic jams” can adversely affect the cats’ hunting behavior, I turned to Dr. Anne Hilborn. She earned her PhD while working with the Serengeti Cheetah Project to gather data on wild cheetahs in Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park. Her work involved observing hunting behavior, cataloguing prey selection, and recording information about competition with other predators. Unfortunately, she also saw how cheetahs can be forced to “compete” with tourist vehicles.

“In the Serengeti, cars line up along the road and tend to create a line of cars,” she explains. “In areas with off-road driving allowed, the drivers tend to create a partial or complete ring around the cheetah.” It’s not hard to see how this could present some serious problems for a hunter trying to approach its prey undetected. Hilborn’s research shows that cheetahs need a clear line of sight to hunt; a wall of vehicles can completely obstruct their ability to scan their territory for prey. “Cheetahs are visual hunters,” she explains, “and need to be able to spot potential prey from a distance. Blockades of cars can prevent them from being able to see portions of the landscape.”

Vehicles can create additional problems, too. “I have seen a cheetah get up and walk out of the circle of cars to try to find prey,” Hilborn recalls. “Then most