Some of you may remember that I posted a series of images a few years ago showing a cheetah cub hunting lesson. I was lucky to have some of those images published in Africa Geographic as well as having the video (my wife's) and some stills shown on an episode of Nat Geo Wild's "Caught in the Act".
Not surprisingly, I took many hundreds if not over a thousand frames of this amazing experience and went back over the last few days to process ones I have never shown before. I may add a single shot I have shown before but otherwise these are all new.
If you are at all sensitive to such things please do not view as there is some difficult stuff to see.
For me this was an extremely bittersweet sighting...I always root for the predator and not because it makes for good photography but because there are so few of them in comparison to their typical prey. But having spent a least and hour and maybe more with this day old Thompson Gazelle I could not help but hope against hope it would somehow avoid what was an all but hopeless situation. So when the Tommie met it's demise we all felt quite a sense of loss.
This is not a post to "enjoy" but I hope you can appreciate the emotions we all felt as we were privileged to watch nature at its finest and rawest.
Eric
ps...these were all taken in my dark period...Nikon D700 (12mp camera) and Nikon 200-400mm with 1.4tc
Most ruthless killers are of course human beings. We kill all kinds of living creatures, our own kind, animals, plants (those are living too)--some time for basic food, some time for excess and also most unfortunately, for hatred.
Excellent record of animal behavior. It seems the tommie trusted the cheetahs. That's innocence.
That is an exceptionally interesting and enlightening sequence of images Eric. I appreciated it when previously posted too. What was the time frame? Did the ungulate make any attempt(s) to flee, or was it pretty much in a state of "tharn", as Richard Adams would call it?
I'm not sure exactly how to describe this Eric, stunning for sure but more than that you have captured wildlife at it's finest. I can certainly see why these were published, a masterful job. And your prelude was superb.
As I sit here a bit choked up for the day old Gazelle, I feel your sense of loss as you documented this event Eric.
The sequence of images you have chosen is excellent, words are not needed as the lesson unfolds... your images tell the story.
I know this is silly, but there seems to be an innate mutual respect of prey and predator... at least that's what I want to see in some of your images.
Masterful storytelling here my friend... I NEVER get tired of seeing your images from Africa.
Kirk
Huge congrats on getting your pics published, well deserved.
Most ruthless killers are of course human beings. We kill all kinds of living creatures, our own kind, animals, plants (those are living too)--some time for basic food, some time for excess and also most unfortunately, for hatred.
Excellent record of animal behavior. It seems the tommie trusted the cheetahs. That's innocence.
Thanks Mansur, I'm not sure about trust but I do think the Tommie hadn't yet imprinted on its own mother and may have been in the process of doing that with the cheetah mother...it did appear at times to be approaching it with an intent to suckle.
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KCollett wrote:
That is an exceptionally interesting and enlightening sequence of images Eric. I appreciated it when previously posted too. What was the time frame? Did the ungulate make any attempt(s) to flee, or was it pretty much in a state of "tharn", as Richard Adams would call it?
Thanks so much Ken. This sequence took over an hour, maybe 90 minutes and the attempts to flee only occurred when prodded to by the cub. Since cheetahs typically will only chase/run after a moving target it needed to induce some running in order to follow after it.
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louie champan wrote:
I'm not sure exactly how to describe this Eric, stunning for sure but more than that you have captured wildlife at it's finest. I can certainly see why these were published, a masterful job. And your prelude was superb.
Thanks so much Louie...it is experiences like these that are so rewarding but at the same time play at one's heartstrings.
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Mark Cronin wrote:
That's amazing to see Eric.
Nicely captured.
Mark
Thanks so much Mark...there are so many incredible behaviors to be witnessed...we just have to be lucky to be in the right place at the right time.
we had a similar experience as a mother was trying to teacher her 4 sub adult cubs what to do - she caught the small gazelle and they played with it like cats do and eventually she had to kill it and the ate - but it was sure interesting behavior - great shots BTW
A life experience for you indeed! Good to see the whole story.
Do other cats do this? I think we should go on an expedition to research the subject!!
Don
DonGut wrote:
A life experience for you indeed! Good to see the whole story.
Do other cats do this? I think we should go on an expedition to research the subject!!
Don
Absolutely fantastic bit of storytelling with a camera. This series brought out different emotions as I looked at them from rooting for the success of the mother in teaching her young to hunt to the obvious feeling of remorse for the loss of something so young and helpless. Number 8 in particular was a powerful image for me and I thought it was exceptionally done. Congrats on your commercial success with these, it is well deserved.
~George.
Thanks George it was so very interesting to witness first hand
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KirkB wrote:
As I sit here a bit choked up for the day old Gazelle, I feel your sense of loss as you documented this event Eric.
The sequence of images you have chosen is excellent, words are not needed as the lesson unfolds... your images tell the story.
I know this is silly, but there seems to be an innate mutual respect of prey and predator... at least that's what I want to see in some of your images.
Masterful storytelling here my friend... I NEVER get tired of seeing your images from Africa.
Kirk
Huge congrats on getting your pics published, well deserved.
I knew you were an old softie feeling bad and shedding a tear for the gazelle. Thanks for ALL the kind words Kirk...they are so very much appreciated. As far as mutual respect, I think it was more a case of a gazelle that hadn't imprinted on its mother and additionally used an inbred defensive tactic of not moving...movement triggers the cheetah's chase response and without it the cheetah is flummoxed as what it should do.
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kwilliam8 wrote:
Amazing set of images, Eric.
Keith W.
Many thanks Keith
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marcy45 wrote:
we had a similar experience as a mother was trying to teacher her 4 sub adult cubs what to do - she caught the small gazelle and they played with it like cats do and eventually she had to kill it and the ate - but it was sure interesting behavior - great shots BTW
Thanks and glad you got to see if for yourself first hand.
birdied wrote:
Wonderfully documented Eric , the shots do tell a very compelling story. Can't help but feel a bit of sadness .
Birdie
Thanks Birdie...life in the bush is not an easy one for predator or prey and loss of life for one means continued life for the other....but watching it unfold is not always easy.
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BrianB. wrote:
Absolutely fantastic bit of storytelling with a camera. This series brought out different emotions as I looked at them from rooting for the success of the mother in teaching her young to hunt to the obvious feeling of remorse for the loss of something so young and helpless. Number 8 in particular was a powerful image for me and I thought it was exceptionally done. Congrats on your commercial success with these, it is well deserved.
Thanks so much Brian...we initially were so excited to watch the cub learn to hunt and chase but over time we became genuinely solemn and heart sick watching what we knew the inevitable outcome would be. Spending over an hour watching a living thing interact with it's "executioner" one develops a real affection for the little gazelle and then to watch it die and be consumed was indeed as difficult sighting as I've ever witnessed.
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kdacharya wrote:
lovely real life drama enacted for you and you did it full justice. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks KD...nature is nature and this predators just do what they do...it does not make the experience any easier to watch but as a photographer I needed to divorce my feelings away from the obvious ambivalence in order to do my "job" and document what was happening in the best way I knew how.
