Antelope kills famous cheetah

nightjar said:
Villain was a duiker.
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http://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/news...r-being-hurt-by-duiker-1.1916299#.VfhVc_mqpBc

The cheetah – the first wild one to be reintroduced into the Great Karoo region in 125 years – died after a severe injury incurred in a struggle with a duiker she was hunting.

...

“She recently killed a kudu, so was hunting, but last week staff went to check on her and found her injured with a deep hole in her abdomen from the duiker’s hooves.”

Isabelle Tompkins, whose parents own the reserve, said they believed that as Sibella got older, her condition deteriorated slowly, so her hunting skills were less effective.

“She did eventually kill the duiker (which was found nearby), but it was too late – she had a gaping hole in her abdomen.
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Nature... I would never had expected a duiker doing this much damage even though the hunter is an old lady. Interesting sheet on the cheetah's age,

http://www.animalinfo.org/species/carnivor/acinjuba.htm

Maximum Reproductive Age:

Females: 12 years (Kelly & Durant 2000).
Males: Up to 14 years (captivity) (Nowell & Jackson 1996).

Maximum Age:

12 - 14 years (captivity: up to 21 years). However, the mean life expectancy of a female reaching 3 years of age in the Serengeti has been estimated at only an additional 3.9 years. (Nowell & Jackson 1996)
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Shame, I read this morning that she had an sad and abusive start. She was attacked by hunting dogs and then put in a cage before she was rescued and rehabilitated and resettled. At least her last years were happy and free. RIP old girl.
 
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