Cheetah Update
This is a short update as to the well-being of the 12 cheetahs released since the 18th of May 2010.
(Sadly Frankie was killed by a leopard.)
They are all doing as well as each other and no single cheetah/group really stands out at adapting better than the rest.
Both Dave and AJ feel Tobie, Zen & Zippi are the most difficult to find and monitor and that Twiggy is the ‘shy one’, although she is more comfortable with Dave than AJ – for she’s familiar with his voice and most probably trusts him more.
Dave found Toby, Zen and Zippy at an eland kill on the 13th of August, which is quite a large animal and basically goes to show how efficient a ‘coalition / group working together’ - can be.
Cyclops – still on his own, seems to be the furthest away and usually roams the far ends of the park, never coming close to the Villa – which is the only camp in the 16 000ha reserve.
Charlie & Trish were originally not often found at a kill, but were in good condition – so they were most probably taking smaller prey like steenbok and duiker at first, but recently Dave has seen them with a kudu – which is much larger, but because they are now not seen every day, it’s hard to judge when they started challenging the bigger species.
The AfriCat team has not had to give any of the cats water for a while now, as they are all hunting regularly enough and are getting enough fluids from the kills, which keeps them going until they reach the water-holes.
Wild cheetahs that are born in the bush and raised by their mother, living a natural life from the start, can usually go without water for much longer periods of time.
The reason we gave water in the beginning, is because they were not hunting regularly enough and therefore not getting the necessary fluids from kills to keep them going. Cheetahs also do not have a good sense of smell, and therefore finding hidden waterholes in an unfamiliar environment is not that easy!
At the moment none of the rehabilitated cheetah’s diets are being subsidized.
Tongs who was only release on the 12th of August has been out for 4 days now, but it does not look as if she has hunted anything yet. She is still in good condition and therefore does not need to challenge the danger of a hunt during these first few days, as there is plenty of fat reserves from her days in captivity. We are not too concerned as she did hunt in the past when she escaped from her captive camp at the AfriCat welfare project once or twice, so we are fairly confident that she will catch something once the hunger pangs set in. We will let you know - IF and when we have to feed her. She still has not joined her brother’s group, but seems to be staying in close proximity – so perhaps the reunion will still happen.
The other four - Hammer, Bones, Spud & Coco are very successful hunters now and are the cheetahs that the guests have the most success tracking, finding them on a kill nearly every day.
ITV is with us at the moment – and they are filming the progress of these rehabilitated cheetahs. They will be with us for 5 months in total and we will keep you all updated when the release of the series will happen.
Cyclops, Hammer, Bones, Spud, Coco, Twiggy, Charlie and Trish – are the stars that you will soon get to know on a regular basis...
Watch this space!
