This Spotless Cheetah was photographed in 2012 and, according to experts, the last one like it was documented in 1921. The images were taken by wildlife photographer and artist Guy Combes at the
Athi Kapiti Conservancy in Kenya. Combes heard rumors of the cat and searched an area of 100,000 acres for days for a chance to photograph it. He managed to get within 50 meters of the animal and watched it for a while before a serval appeared and the cheetah took off after it. Wildlife experts believe that the genetic mutation that this cheetah had would help it thrive in the wild as other species may believe it to be a lion.
There are about 20,000 African Lions in the world, and only about 500 Asiatic Lions. However, in the one place that they still live in the wild, their numbers are increasing, because the community that surrounds them protects them.
This is an old photo of Cecil. The magnificent lion who was shot and killed by a hunter/poacher a few days ago.
RIP Cecil, you were magnificent !
It’s really sad that this creature is dead. When I first heard about “the guy who shot the lion with a bow and arrow”, I didn’t care. I thought people were bullying Walter Palmer without good reason to do so. Why should anyone care? He was just hunting an animal in another country. People have better things to worry about. But then I read into the case, and I found out it was more than just a dude who shot a big game animal. The whole situation is as I already described it: sad. Cecil was loved by the those who know knew him. He lived in a national park where people could see him daily, and he was being studied by the University of Oxford. For him to be lured out – by hunting guides who were paid off and thought they had the correct permits – in order to be killed blows my mind. There are multiple guilty parties. Thank goodness the Zimbabwean government is taking steps to press charges. This could have been avoided. Never again.