There was once a cheetah mother in Kenya, Africa, who lived in the savanna with her little cheetah cubs. There were three of them, two male cheetah cubs, and one female cheetah cub.
They were all very hungry, but the babies were more so; for it had been several days since they had eaten their last meal.
They were lying there, in the hot African sun, when a herd of Thompson's gazelle happened by. There were at least 40 of them.
The mother cheetah happened to spot one particular little gazelle that obviously had a deformed leg; it limped, and each time it tried to catch up with its mother, the poor little gazelle would trip and then fall heavily to the ground.
She knew instinctively that this would be the one she would chase and then capture for their meal.
So off in a sudden burst of blinding speed she went.
Dust flew from her long doglike legs as she sprinted after the hapless little crippled gazelle; and, like several times before, the little crippled gazelle would trip (but, somehow, managed to stay upright). The gazelle then fell onto its side, and that was all the break the hungry mother cheetah needed. In an instant, her jaws clamped tightly against the little gazelle's throat, cutting off its air.
The little gazelle gasped for breath and struggled to get away, but the mother cheetah held fast to the gazelle. She wasn't ABOUT to let it get away.
When at last the little gazelle was dead the mother cheetah dragged her newly caught prize to where her three tiny cubs were waiting expectantly. Their little tongues hung out of their hungry little mouths.
They then started to feast, those three precious little cheetah cubs. The taste of fresh meat and blood was like a tonic to their
system; the more they ate, the more they wanted.
They ate and they ate until their little bellies became bloated. Even though they were little cheetahs they ate more like little pigs. Meanwhile, the mother cheetah lay on her side, totally exhausted from her high-speed chase.
It was a very satisfactory meal, indeed, especially for the little cubs.
Suddenly, out of the corner of her large amber-colored eyes, the mother cheetah happened to spot the tan-brown spotted coat that seemed to lurk closer and closer. The smell that enamated from the coat sent alarm signals throughout her tired body, instantly awakening her sense of danger. For this new intruder was a hyena, one of the cheetah's most feared enemies.
For the hyena, although smaller, was much stronger and more volitile than the cheetah. They could easily kill a cheetah if they had the chance, especially if they happened to be little cheetah cubs.
The mother quickly went over to where her three cubs were, and in cheetah language, she told them to hunker down and hide in the tall grass, as danger was lurking about; and she then proceeded to try to scare the hyena away by stamping her feet and growling and hissing and spitting. She was getting angrier and angrier as the moments ticked by.
Suddenly, the hyena started at something moving in the tall grass. It was another cheetah. It scared the hyena, and, in a flash, the hyena was gone.
