Close Encounter With a Desert Roaming Cheetah
By Yvonne de Jong & Tom Butynski
Posted on the National Geographic Explorers Journal on February 25, 2013
When you are lucky enough to spot a cheetah (scientific name: Acinonyx jubatus raineyi;Kiswahili name: duma), you typically see a ‘little’ head (well……for a cat of that size ‘little’) sticking out of tall yellow grass under a shady acacia or balanites tree. If you are really lucky, there is a second ‘little’ head sticking out nearby. While conducting our desert warthog survey on the edge of Kenya’s remote Chalbi Desert we had a very different encounter with the majestic cheetah…..