Cheetah Cubs

Saturday, August 2nd, 2008

I couldn’t resist posting these photographs of cheetah cubs – magnificent and adorable creatures but so vulnerable!

Cheetahs are the fastest felines in the world but also the most endangered felines species. These little fellows are born blind and virtually helpless, but they develop fast. At 4 to 10 days of age, their eyes open, and they start crawling around the nest area. They are heavily targetted by other predators, reason for which the female moves the young from den to den every few days. While the female is hunting, cubs are very exposed to predators, having a mortality rate as high as 90 percent in the wild. These amazing pictures epict just that: the early stages of these helpless cubs in their dangerous journey to adulthood.