Cheetah Day 2021

2 years ago

Cheetah brothers at sunset in Mara North Conservancy in Kenya’s Masai Mara. This is one of the first ‘best’ images I captured as a professional photographer … around 15 years ago. I remember that incredible orange-pink light, it’s stayed with me all this time. Can you see both of them?! 🐆🐆

Today December 4th is International Cheetah Day ~ a day to highlight just how incredibly vulnerable cheetah are. Not only are half of their chases, which last from 20 – 60 seconds, unsuccessful but in protected areas like national parks and wildlife reserves, cheetahs don’t do well against other larger predators like the lion, leopard, and hyena, all of which compete with cheetahs for prey and will kill cheetahs given the opportunity. Cheetah cub mortality rate can be as high as 90% in these places. In 1900, there were over 100,000 cheetahs across their historic range. Today, an estimated 7000-7500 cheetahs remain in the wild in Africa

If you’d like to learn more about cheetahs and support conservation efforts for this stunning cat please follow (and donate to!) Mara Predator Conservation 

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#worldcheetahday #cheetah #magicalkenya