After consuming an antelope in Kenya, a pack of cheetahs adopted a frightening posture with their faces coated in blood and intestines.
After feasting on a 30lb antelope in the Maasai Mara national park, the predators were covered in crimson and had cartilage hanging from their jaws.
In a ‘thrilling scene,’ photographer Tapan Sheth reported the so-called coalition of cheetahs licking their lips and prowling the game reserve after their feast.
‘It was the first live hunt I’d ever witnessed, and it was fantastic. I was only fifty feet away from this incredible capture. ‘There’s one photo in particular where the cheetah is facing the camera that I’m especially happy of,’ said Tapan, who lives in Rajkot, India.
Some of the animals are considered to be around eight years old, which is well into middle age for a cheetah, which generally lives for 10 to 12 years in the wild – and is facing extinction.
Cheetahs are trafficked as pets after being unlawfully caught in Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya, according to wildlife experts, and are sometimes poached for their skin. According to the African Wildlife Foundation, there are only 6,700 adult cheetahs left in the wild.
Blood and guts: Cartilage hangs from the button nose of a cheetah after it devoured an antelope along with a so-called coalition of the big cats in Kenya’s Maasai Mara national park Licking their lips: Two of the predators savour their meal after devouring the antelope, having even scared off a pride of lions who were manoeuvring for a share of the meal  Feast: The coalition of cheetahs tucks into its meal, with the 30lb antelope visible only by its stripped and lifeless leg after it was killed by the big cats in Kenya’s Maasai Mara game reserve Turning heads: The cheetahs were left with bright red faces – standing out against their trademark light-coloured coats and spots – after their meal left them caked in blood Menacing stare: One of the cheetahs looks directly at the camera and licks its lips with its face covered in blood after the animals showed their predatory prowess by taking down an antelope Red-faced: This cheetah cut an aggressive figure in what photographer Tapan Sheth, a 41-year-old from Rajkot, India, described as his favourite photo in the collection Hunting in a pack: These cheetahs were born from different mothers but are part of the same ‘coalition’ of the animals – which face threats from poaching and illegal capture in the wildÂ
