A surprise in the grass
By Anna Place, Producer for Cheetah, Dynasties II
One of my favourite scenes in the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Dynasties Cheetah episode was one that took us all, including the cheetahs, completely by surprise.
We’d been following the family, Kali and her cubs Lalu, Zoho and Tune, for a few hours already that day, just walking across the plain. We spent a lot of our time following cheetahs through long grass, occasionally they would take off at high speed after an antelope or sometimes just sit down under a bush but this morning, out of nowhere, one of them leapt high into the air squeaking. The cameraman, Mark MacEwen, radios to me from the film car that he thinks one of the cubs has been bitten by a snake. We stop and wait nervously as Mark concentrates on filming what might play out. We were all pretty worried, it was only our second shoot but we were already very attached to the cats. Kali had moved away to a safe distance, but the cubs were still very interested in whatever was in the long grass.
After a few minutes the radio crackles again… “it’s a tiny ruddy mole rat! They are all petrified of an animal an eighth of their size!” Mark couldn’t quite believe it, we’d seen them taking on wildebeests, one of the largest animals out here, yet they were floored by this tiny little furry creature. But the mole rat is a tiny creature with a big secret weapon, its razor-sharp teeth, which Lalu found out to her cost. She got bolder and bolder until finally we saw her leap out of our frame, the mole rat firmly attached to her paw!
*No animals were harmed in the filming of this scene. The mole rat and Lalu went safely on their way, both a little wiser.
Cheetah vs mole rat
Three young cheetah encounter a rather feisty little mole rat on the plains of Zambia.
