Cape Town - The stork has been a friendly, and welcome, recent visitor at Sanbona Wildlife Reserve in the Little Karoo, with the arrival of a healthy elephant calf on Mother’s Day, and four cheetah cubs, gender as yet unknown, last week.
The Sanbona Conservation Team and guides have been closely monitoring the female cheetah. It was noted that it was looking for an appropriate site to create a den. The reserve staff have also been keeping a close eye on the progress of the elephant calf.
Paul Vorster, Sanbona wildlife manager, said: “After pinpointing the location of the mother cheetah and confirming a visual on her, four cubs were discovered. Their genes and offspring are very important to sustain and conserve the wild cheetah population in southern Africa.
“Sanbona, part of the Shamwari Group, and the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Cheetah metapopulation programme have worked closely over the years to help protect these magnificent cats.”
Cheetahs have a three-month gestation period and this particular female had, in recent months, been seen courting a male cheetah.
Den sites in this vast Karoo landscape provide cover from the sun and are a safe haven from other sources of danger, such as lions or hyaenas.
The elephant calf is the sixth calf to be born at Sanbona. Rangers have been keeping their distance to ensure mother and calf have sufficient time to bond and as yet the gender of the baby is unknown. The herd is very protective of the youngster and they have truly welcomed it into the herd, which roams free on 54 000 hectares of pristine wilderness.
Elephants have the longest gestation period of all mammals, carrying their young for nearly two years before giving birth. These long developmental periods are common among highly-intelligent animals. Since elephants are the largest land animals with the biggest brains, babies must have the time to develop in the womb.
Meanwhile, at Sanbona’s sister reserve in the Eastern Cape, Shamwari game reserve, the Shamwari wildlife rehabilitation centre has released three young caracals which have been undergoing rehabilitation for the past seven months.
The orphaned caracal kittens were brought to the rehabilitation centre by a farmer who had found them abandoned on his land. For the last seven months they were hand-reared by a veterinary nurse, with a feeding bottle containing a specialised milk formula. They have now been successfully weaned and they can hunt for themselves. - Saturday Star