The Way of the Cheetah (Full Episode) - DOCUMENTARY SPECIAL ft. Jeremy Irons - Nat Geo Animals

There's a particular kind of wind in Africa. It changes everything in its path. It has drops of tears streaking down its face. It shapeshifts like an apparition in a storm, confusing, disappearing, causing bewilderment until it does materialize. Tear-streaked hunters create tension across the plains. Hunters that strike apocalyptic figures with a certain look, a poise, a certain way. It is the way of the cheetah. Five male cheetahs stride in. Their way is the way of the wind. Cheetahs are the shadow hunters. They'll always try to muffle any cries in soft but lethal mouths. It's hard to keep secrets out here. While it's not the way of the cheetah to fight a fight you cannot win, just handing over a kill is always hard. Hyenas are three times their weight and quick to turn the delicate eland into a blood spot in time. Wherever these five highly efficient males go, their presence ripples through the savannah to everyone up the food chain. Wake of each success, the danger escalates. It explains so much about cheetahs and how they're different to the mobbing hyenas in their own eternal battles with robust lionesses. Cheetahs just aren't built like that. But this small band of brothers is unique. Their coalition gives them strength in numbers. Their synchrony in all things makes these males extraordinary killers. They can kill and eat fast and move on as perpetual wanderers. They must be careful though. Even a short hard rain can quickly cause the rivers to swell. Behind them the prey has been hunted hard. For cheetahs there is always tension in the water. They aren't robust or strong swimmers. With careful planning the five males find rocky stepping stones that unlocks a gateway to the high ground beyond the rivers. Out here the possibilities are boundless because this is the Masai Mara as they look south towards the Serengeti plains. And each of these new dry plateaus needs a reminder of which cheetahs claim ownership. Cheetah marking posts are quite obvious and they've saved up enough capacity to make it count. Also on the higher ground a single female cheetah doesn't have the luxury of a coalition. Her name is Imani, meaning faith Her way is different. She will only ever be hunting alone. She's more stealthy. The complexities of being a cheetah vary from one individual to the next. The reason for Imani's risky tactic lies in the dewy grass at dawn. Four new cubs are a good reason for her to be anxious. Cheetahs are the smallest of the big cats, the most fragile. Cubs trust her instincts implicitly, faithfully. As soon as the cubs are fed to drowsiness, Imani makes her move. The confused cubs, tucked away in thick grass, can only hear what she's up to. The quiet bleat, the bird-like chirp, tells them where to locate her. But from the start one cub takes a different path. It's time to start introducing meat to their diet. But something's wrong. A stranger. An aggressive stranger. A large pregnant female expecting her own cubs very soon. Imani has to make the impossible choice, defend her kill or protect her cubs and get them out of the focus of those eyes filled with fire. Three of the cubs stand back in fear. But then the male cub, not quite as ready to be cheated so easily, steps forward. The bold little male is not reading the stranger's body language. Now it's clear. The young male brushes it off for the next adventure, pausing only briefly to harass Imani. Next he joins in at a slippery tuft to disrupt his siblings games. To say he's a troublemaker may be too much. They all are. They're almost identical. A reminder that all cheetahs are genetically similar. This has nearly caused their extinction twice in the past. And her instinct is to keep on the move, away from the prying eyes and the gangs of males, especially the five brothers. The way of the hunt is to appear from where they least anticipate and to do it fast. One expects the wind to come from three different directions at once, let alone five. These brothers are not attacking like cheetah at all, but more like lions. They're succeeding in cooperating to bring down an animal more than twice their size, and that is what lions do. Usually cheetahs are gentle killers, if there are such things, and normally feed peacefully, sharing. But more and more, the five males are abandoning their cheetah ways. This infighting will not serve them well. Cheetah coalitions must stay well bonded to succeed. Has to be careful now, and keep her cubs well hidden from the ever more emboldened males as they patrol, even through the night. These thermal night vision images reveal just how at ease they are in the dark, but she is tense, moving and hiding constantly. Daylight is her realm, her niche, and Imani has a short window in which to work it hard. Today, she has a Thompson's gazelle fixed in her sights. Imani in full flight is the very picture of elegance, an animal doing exactly what it is born to do, floating, defying gravity as she cuts through the air, half animal, half magical being. Hunting Thompson's gazelle is a real risk, not just because of the sharp little horns, but because of the attention the hunt might attract. Especially from the large male olive baboons at the head of enormous troops. Not much smaller than the cheetah itself, but collectively there's no contest. But the reason for their boldness is because these baboons are after a kill. These East African plains dance a dance that unveils many colors and faces in the land of the cheetahs, an ever-changing world that keeps flooding new innocent prey her way. It keeps Imani on her toes. The scent of zebras arriving in the area is a dazzling intoxication. With her cubs tucked away, she takes the hunt to the arriving zebras. Zebras have evolved to be a visual chaos, and in that chaos, Imani is suddenly not alone. Her brothers are alongside her. It's time for her to quietly bow out while the males are focused on the taste of blood. A kill is never secure for cheetahs. Even vultures can drive them off. But the males adopt the art of attacking first, the way of physical display. It buys them some time to gobble up as much as possible. This tactic, a stand against many opponents, is an ancient one. When the sun fades, the vultures will have to stay in the treetops for safety. But if the males stay too long, other larger scavengers will emerge from the darkness. Cheetahs are the only big cats in Africa that can't roar. So for the five brothers to maintain their boundary markers, they need healthy bladders and some creativity to spray paint their ownership. At one of these marking posts, they smell the fresh sign of Imani. It's probably the first indication of who the extra cheetah in the hunt was. And that alone requires some significant group urination therapy. You'd think with all this that they'd need to get to a waterhole to top up. But no, they're on a quest to find her, somewhere in their 30 square miles of territory. The dawn sharpens the scent of a female at last. They can smell a female's marking from weeks ago, but today this is fresh. Their problem is that her scent trail has some obstacles. This tactic is a shadow dance, where you appear to attack with just enough leeway to escape, as you watch what your opponent is capable of. With the confidence of a matador, he knows his flight distance and the terrain. Vital knowledge for any warrior. This butterfly-like lightness allows all cheetahs that air of superiority. Hidden across the valley, Imani leaves the resting cubs because somehow she seems to know what'll happen next. There's a perfect climbing tree up ahead and she needs to check it out. The shape and height make it irresistible to the cubs. And of course, she's right. It's an absolute scramble, but that cheetah elegance seems to be limited to the plains, not up a tree. Now the young male starts to distinguish himself in other ways. It's not because of his balance, which he happens to be quite bad at, but somehow he always seems to land on his feet, just. After each embarrassing episode, he seeks comfort at Imani's side. But today, that may be a big mistake. She's right next to the path being cut by the siyafu, ants that can deliver fierce stinging bites, and he is right in their path. His paws are on fire, but there's a new danger on the horizon. The five males. When Imani bolts with her cub, it may be as a decoy to draw the males away from the much more vulnerable cubs in the trees. It sparks a cat and mouse game, and the chase is on. They have her cornered against the stream. Then, suddenly, the cub turns to face the attackers. The male's aggressive slap is met with unexpected defiance. And when Imani submits, it is only to give her cub an escape. But at the spindly tree, he and the others are witness to a very different side to their mother's character. She's a ball of fury, with fangs and razor-sharp claws. She's amped up the tension, and suddenly, the males start turning on each other. The coalition of five brothers collapses, each one now only for himself, and it all erupts into a brawl. Their courtship is in chaos, and that gives Imani the one desperate hope she needs. With the romance of the moment completely ruined, the bruised suitors agree that this was never going to be a match made in heaven, and they leave for distant pursuits, all together again. The young male is at it again. He's struggling with some rear-end issues that started off as a backwards descent. Her example is clear to all the others, and the small family is on the move again. But he still has his own particular nuanced approach to getting out of trees. Imani must keep on the move, in the opposite direction to the males. Her only safe zone now will be in the hills. The cubs' lives are filled with explosive and energetic play, on and around their loving mother. After a day like he's had, the adventurous little male is more in need of rest than play. For him, a more sedate day or two is just what he wants. But every time he drops off for just a moment, his ever-alert mother takes the chance to scan the horizon. Her way is to be still and yet alert, to be at rest without resting. Every mirrored look is all about Imani's way, transferring to them to eventually become their way. His nap disturbed, he's attuned to her movements now, not distracted by his siblings. The hunt is on, and he is determined to keep up. She is successful, and now is their long-awaited first taste of meat. The cubs can smell blood, but when they hold back, it's because someone else can smell it too, and that threat confuses them, scares them. At first, the cubs are unsure what this is all about, what to do with it, and then instinct kicks in. As the first tint of red colors their lips, they transform into innocent killers. The young male stares down possible prey, feeling he can take on anything now. Learning how to eat meat is just part of today's study. It's Imani's response to the jackals that provides the real lesson. On the very next return of the jackals, the bold little male cub tries the technique out for size. It seems to work, so effectively that he gives it another try with even more enthusiasm. His ground slapping technique is barely noticed by his family, but at this moment, he's starting to show the same defiance that might be expected of an adult cheetah. When Imani leads them away, he's reluctant. His blood is up, but ultimately, it's not the jackals who are the worst enemy of cheetahs. When he begrudgingly gives up his spoils, it's because the real threat is steadily advancing on them, as it does each day. A dark force, the twilight. It's that bewitching hour for cheetahs, where lions and their prides emerge from the hills here, and seek excitement, opportunity, and challenges. These hellish nights just serve to highlight how difficult it is to be a cheetah, with lions to the left, male cheetahs never far behind her, and unknown threats ahead, all with growing cubs at her feet. And yet, it is paradise. Imani senses something about to change, something from beyond the horizon. The five males sense it too, and when they finally materialize, they arrive in huge numbers. The problem for wildebeest on the move is that they're always heading forward into the unknown. But those who are first to the battlefield, and await their opponents, are at ease, and have the advantage. They are artists of deception, pretending to be benign, walking casually as if what lurks under their skins is not important. And that, more than anything, is the cheetah way. Unleashed at 70 miles an hour, this incredible speed leaves no room for mistakes. The quick, the size of the prey, makes it almost an impossibility. But for this moment in time, nothing else matters, for the predator or for the prey. The brothers are working in unison, collaborating to win this immense battle. It's hard to know which god selected this wildebeest. Was it random, or is it his almost imperceptible limp from last year's water crossing? It is a moment in time, and yet it is timeless. These epic battles for survival are the result of wave after wave of millions of wildebeest that pour into the waiting teeth of the just 7,000 cheetahs left on the planet. Victory is short-lived. Now, each takes turns in defending their meal, while the other four feed up, before the hyenas can get the true measure of their strength or weakness. The one constant in their lives, however, is the darkness at the end of each day. The cheetah's way is usually to yield to that good night and walk towards tomorrow. The question is whether they can keep on outrunning these obstacles day after day. By the next season, Imani is still surviving, and success for her means bringing up at least some of her cubs. But she's lost one. One of the survivors is the curious young male. As he grows, he becomes even more intrigued by everything that moves. The secretary bird's display of an early summer courtship grabs his interest. To those engaged, it's a subtle and complex dance, but for the cubs, it's an irresistible curiosity. Still timid, they're as inquisitive as all young cats. As we'd expect, he's the first to give it a go. And they're pleased that he's the one willing to make mistakes. It seems the birds and the cheetahs have traded places. He's the first to summit and to see Imani about to spring a hunt. He and the other cubs have watched her do this dozens of times in the last few months. It's an enviable ability she has, but they are yet to learn. Imani is like liquid amber, perfection they can learn from. But watching can only take them so far. Today, they're eager to take the next steps. It's time to graduate from obedient pupils to participants. And her selection is designed for this perfectly. Live, but small prey. And right here, right now, the young male and his siblings learn their own way. The real way of the cheetahs they will become. Imani watches, but doesn't interfere. This is the single most important thing in the cubs' lives at this stage. If they can't kill to eat, they will simply starve. In time, as they grow, they will face a thousand obstacles. Genetic bottlenecks aside, where they do thrive, so do lions. And it's those half-grown teenagers with playful energy that Imani must steer her cubs away from. But today, she does just the opposite. She leads them to the lions for a look, but stays just outside of their range. They're playing with fire. The odds of cheetah cubs surviving are less than 10%. And lions play a very large part in that. It's a vital lesson for Imani's adventurous male cub, because he won't always have her at his side. For him, the biggest threat in the future will not be lions, though. As the cubs grow and form new coalitions, they'll need prey to hunt on gracile legs. Tactics that make best use of claws, ready to jab into the ground or propel them at the fastest speeds of any animal on Earth. And to fly like the wind, with a delicacy unrivaled on these plains. But most of all, they'll need space. Space to live on their own terms without fear, to co-exist with us. Without that, the young male's future, after he finally leaves his mother to find his own way, will be uncertain. And those dark tears on his face would be our collective tragedy. But that, let us hope, will not be our way.