A Fast and Nervous Eater

Cheetahs often loose their kill to one of the larger predators (Lion, Hyena, Leopard, …) before they are able to start eating.

After making a kill Cheetahs usually have to recover for a while – heavily panting – before they can start eating. If another predator has heard the sounds made during the hunt they will often come running and deprive a Cheetah of its well earned meal.

So unlike Lions who completely concentrate on eating, Cheetahs will sit up very frequently to look around for approaching danger. They usually start eating very fast from the back side of their prey where they can get a lot of meat in a very short time before a potential arrival of any meat-thieves.

This is a picture I took last night of a young Cheetah female on an Nyala kill eating fast and scanning the area between large gulbs of meats.

Technical data: Canon R6 with RF lens f4-6.3/24-240mm | ISO 5000 | 1/500sec | f6.7 | ev+0 | 150mm | WB 6500K | AV Mode | Crop to 20% of original image

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