Nature is capable of giving us one or another moment , most of them unique and wonderful. Fortunately, some of them are documented by those who have the privilege of witnessing them, and from Zoorprendente today we bring you a truly impressive one.
Although wildlife photographers have one of the most dangerous jobs, the stunning images they capture make their work one of the most rewarding.
They never suspected they could witness such behavior in a herd of cheetahs
The majestic photographs of Arnfinn Johansen and Buddhilini De Soyza were captured while touring the Maasai Mara National Park, located in Kenya.
After days of hard work, they had the most wonderful gift
These photographers managed to immortalize a family of five cheetahs that they had been following for days and that finally appeared from the dense vegetation.
The cheetah is the fastest land animal, reaching a top speed of up to 115 km/h, in races of up to four or five hundred meters. Females can have up to five cubs per litter. Its main prey is the Thomson’s gazelle.
The cheetah is one of the cats most at risk of disappearing since its numbers have been reduced by more than 50 percent in the last twenty-five years and its habitat has disappeared by 90 percent.
Although the sight of such a large family of these specimens is rare, what these animals did was what left these photographers, and the millions of social media users, breathless.
They were preparing to cross the mighty river without imagining the danger they faced.
Luckily for all of us, Arnfinn and Buddhilini were working in an African sanctuary and managed to capture when the cats gathered to cross a rushing river that was overflowing due to heavy rains.
There are less than 7,000 cheetahs left in the wild
The river was very dangerous, but not only because of the strong current, but also because of the presence of crocodiles that, waiting for their dinner, looked at the cats as if it were a special home-delivered dinner.
“They hunt on both sides of the Talek River, so it is not surprising that they wanted to cross it. Normally, they would do it by walking on stones, but this year it rained for a long time and because of the flooding, it was very difficult for them to do it,” Arnfinn explained.
Photographer Arnfinn said he had been following the five cheetahs for a long time.
“They were walking along the river for quite a while, looking for a place to get to the other side, but because of the strong current, it was really dangerous. Also, that river is home to the Nile crocodile,” Arnfinn added.
These photographers couldn’t believe it, they had been following these animals for days without success when out of nowhere they appeared in front of them ready to do something crazy.
They barely managed to prepare their glasses when the cheetahs began to jump into the water.
“First, the cheetah leader jumped into the river, and two more soon followed. The two smallest cheetahs in the group waited a few seconds before following them,” Arnfinn said.
Fortunately, all the cheetahs made it to the other side alive.
“The herd swam as fast as they could. You could really see they didn’t like it,” Arnfinn added.
Without a doubt, a shocking moment that shows us how unpredictable nature can be, even if humans are left breathless in the process. It never ceases to surprise us!