Survival of the fittest
CHEETAH FAMILY & ME BBC2, 9pm GORDON Buchanan – that hardy half man-half big cat naturalist – is back in South Africa, at the Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, to catch up with the family of cheetahs he’s been following for sometime.
Mother Savannah has already been through the mill, losing cubs and surviving droughts, and as he finds and follows her tracks – with the help of cheetah expert and guide Richard Satekge – they realise tragedy has struck once again, and one of her sons has been killed. Now she’s travelling with her two remaining offspring, Seba and Morwa, but it’s clear they’ve both got a lot to learn and Savannah must teach them how to hunt to survive.
After spending months in their company, the family are clearly very comfortable with Gordon being around, and treat him like one of their own. Including having a good sniff of his jacket and backpack, even swiping them for goodies.
As Gordon realises, there’s two of these mischievous teens against one now. And they’ve grown to the point of possibly becoming dangerous too.
Although the reality is that humans are far more dangerous to cheetahs than the other way around.
Human activity has resulted in the loss of
90% of their habitat, which is the biggest threat they face.
And this is one of the reasons South Africa has created fenced reserves, which are controversial in the field of conservation but have led to cheetah numbers increasing, although life is still incredibly tough.