true confessions (2717)

Every week, the Animal Planet (channel) features incredible footage of several wild animals, ranging from sea lions to hippos, and how they seek out and target other animals to prey upon. While some of the footage can at times be gruesome to watch, the cheetah is a real thing of beauty.

 

 

I have a rather startling confession to make. I've been a cable television subscriber for many years now, and up until this month, if I were ever asked by someone what my favorite channels were, I would probably reply with the usual suspects: CNN, ESPN, TNT, MTV, BET, HGTV…(HGTV? Sorry, thought I'd try picking up a few brownie points in case my wife was reading this…)

 

Despite being one the fastest animals on land, I was surprised to discover that the cheetah will tend to prey on the weak, even though it is fast enough to prey on the strong. One would think with its incredible agility and speed, the cheetah would set its sights on larger animals or targets. But in fact, the cheetah does the exact opposite. Another interesting fact concerning the cheetah is that while in pursuit of its prey, nearly half of its hunting attempts actually result in failure. The reason? Because the cheetah exerts so much energy chasing after its prey, that when it finally catches up and drags its target to the ground, it has very little energy left to ward off other predators from stealing its kill. In other words, the cheetah's method of attack often makes its prey vulnerable to other predators seeking to attack. - by Milan Ford

 

the rest of the confession is here