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Cats aren’t supposed to get into water.

Even Kariega Game Reserve agrees that most African cat species are quite hesitant to enter the wet stuff at all.

Yet, a brave cheetah mom led her two cubs paddling across a river in an “extremely rare” moment, according to a game reserve, which is in the Eastern Cape, slightly inland from Kenton-on-Sea.

In a video posted to Instagram by the Kariega Game Reserve earlier this month, an adult cheetah can be seen swimming across Bushman’s River.

Once on the other side, she made a series of high-pitched calls, prompting her two four-month-old cubs to follow her lead and paddle across the river, too.

Hilariously, the cubs pounce into the bush in one shot as soon as they make it to the shoreline, shaking off the experience of water as soon as they can.

It was an “amazing sighting,” the reserve said in the post, adding that it was “extremely rare to witness, especially considering the age of the cubs”.

 

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Saturday was Endangered Species Day, which the game reserve used as an opportunity to note the dwindling cheetah population.

The species, which is currently listed as vulnerable, has been eradicated from 91% of its historical range, according to the Endangered Wildlife Trust.

“Cheetahs now live in fragmented populations in pockets of Africa, occupying a mere 9% of their historic range,” the reserve noted in a separate post:

 

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There are only an estimated 6,674 adult cheetahs left in the wild, according to the African Wildlife Foundation. Only about 5% of cubs survive to adulthood.

Habitat loss poses a major threat to the animals, as their ranges are depleted by about 2% per year. Unlike most animals, cheetahs also face many struggles in conservation areas as they come into conflict with other predators and are generally extremely vulnerable. ⁠

The Kariega Foundation proudly proclaimed a partnership with Ashia Cheetah Conservation and the African Cat Project to establish and support this volatile population.

Ashia is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the survival of the cheetah species through its conservation efforts and Release & Reintroduction Program, while the African Cat Project is also a non-profit organisation dedicated to the conservation of Africa’s big cats.

[source:sunherald]