Simply the most elegant, most beautiful & most fragile of the big cats.
Cheetahs run down their prey with breathtaking acceleration but though built for speed they lack stamina & a robust physical build. These cats, though effective hunters are easily displaced from their kills by Lions & Hyenas.
Cheetahs, more than any other cat live life on the edge, which is reflected in the small percentage of cubs which reach adulthood.
Surprisingly in our short stay in the Mara we saw two single Cheetahs & three family groups -including one of four almost full-grown cubs with their mother as well as a mother with two well-grown twins & the rather sad & pitiful sight of a mother with a half-grown but blind youngster that was doomed to die. My 10 year-old daughter was grief-stricken by the sight of this blind cub and could not understand why it was not being "taken in" for veterinary care!