Baby Cheetah Outruns a Lion Attack With a Squirrel's Trick

Lion attack in the Masai Mara, Kenya: a male lion goes after a baby cheetah, a ten-month-old cheetah cub, and the mother cheetah fights back. 🐆🦁 The same cub made its very first catch that morning — by the afternoon it was running for its life. 🌅 Morning: a cheetah mother (Acinonyx jubatus) catches a Thomson's gazelle fawn (Eudorcas thomsonii) alive and lets it go in front of her three cubs. Two of them crash into each other. One cub gets the forefoot across the hind leg — its very first catch. 🐿️ Noon: while the family sleeps, the cub slips away after a striped ground squirrel (Xerus erythropus). Zigzags, whistling thorn, a climb up a fallen acacia, and a burrow with a second door. The cub learns one thing: throw the tail out and turn. 🦁 Afternoon: the squirrel runs up the only tree on the plain — and under it a male lion (Panthera leo) opens his eyes. One growl, and the cub backs away. ⚡ The chase. A paw's width from the cub's hindquarters, and one turn the lion cannot make. 🌵 Trapped in the thorns below a termite mound, the cub calls for its mother. She comes down off the mound straight at a lion four times her weight. Real cheetah and lion behaviour in this episode: Cheetah mothers bring live young prey back so their cubs can practise; a cheetah trips its prey with the dewclaw of a forefoot and then holds the throat, rather than wrestling it down. A cheetah reaches full speed in about three strides but can only sprint for around twenty seconds before it has to stop and cool down. The long flat tail works as a rudder in hard turns. Cubs stay with their mother until about eighteen months, and mothers call them with a high chirp. Lions remove cheetah cubs as competitors whenever they can — not for food — and a male lion of about 190 kg can sprint near 80 km/h over a short distance, but his weight makes every change of direction expensive. Striped ground squirrels run in zigzags, climb to escape and live in burrows with several entrances. If you searched for a lion attack on cheetah cubs, mother cheetah vs lion, a cheetah mom protecting her cubs from a male lion, or lion vs cheetah in the Masai Mara, this is that story. 🔔 Subscribe for a new wildlife showdown every week. 👇 Would the cub have made it without that squirrel's trick? 00:00 - Cheetah Cub Running From a Male Lion 00:32 - Morning on the Masai Mara Plain 00:50 - Cheetah Mother Stalks and Chases a Gazelle Fawn 01:18 - Cheetah Mother Frees the Fawn for Her Cubs 01:53 - A Male Lion Lifts His Head Far Across the Plain 02:08 - The Cheetah Cub's First Catch 03:06 - Midday Nap and a Striped Ground Squirrel 03:46 - Cheetah Cub Chases the Ground Squirrel 04:40 - The Ground Squirrel's Second Burrow Door 05:08 - The Squirrel Climbs the Tree Where a Male Lion Sleeps 05:28 - The Male Lion Growls and the Cheetah Cub Backs Away 05:41 - Lion Attack: the Male Lion Charges the Baby Cheetah 06:57 - The Squirrel's Turn Saves the Cheetah Cub 07:11 - Baby Cheetah Hides in the Thorns Below a Termite Mound 07:33 - Cheetah Cub Calls for Its Mother 07:47 - Mother Cheetah Fights Back Against the Male Lion 08:15 - The Male Lion Gives Up and Walks Away 08:30 - Cheetah Mother Licks Her Cub and Takes It Home #lionattack #cheetah #wildlife ⚠️ AI-Assisted Production: Original concept, research, and script by the creator. AI tools were used for visualization and cinematic production. Some scenes are dramatized for educational purposes. ⚠️ Thumbnail Notice: Thumbnail is illustrative and may not reflect exact footage — designed to represent the video's theme and key moments.