Cheetah vs Thomson's Gazelle

Serengeti National Park

Slideshow (Flickr)

Came across two cheetahs, the juvenile is on top of the mound and the adult is at the bottom in the shade Then a Thomson's gazelle wanders into the area (far left of the photo) Adult cheetah gets up to take a look
Decides to go into hunting mode Getting closer... Closer...
This is about the time the gazelle realizes he's screwed And the chase is on Lots of sharp cuts back and forth
Unfortunately, the chase went in the completely opposite direction from where I was Juvenile cheetah finally gets up and decides to move in The cheetah finally catches up and gets the gazelle by the throat. Entire thing probably took less than 10 seconds.
Super zoomed in view of the cheetah clamping down on the throat It looked like the juvenile was going to start eating while the adult recovered from the chase But then a troop of baboons moved in, and there's really not anything a winded cheetah can do against a pack of baboons. Baboons can be vicious.
So it was the baboons that actually ended up with the gazelle Super zoomed in shot of the baboon and the gazelle And the cheetahs, after all that effort to bring down the gazelle, are left with nothing

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