Cheetah mom and cubs bonding.

Early one morning we were driving along and up ahead on the right were a few animals moving towards the road out of the bush. A little further we recognized them as a family of cheetah. They were doing something that I could not really understand at first. Mom was licking the face of the youngster. Was this to remove blood off his face from the kill they just ate or was this just a bonding activity licking each others faces. I truly don’t know. But it certainly went on for a while and I think she was cleaning his face and afterwards he cleaned hers as well. Flies are terrible sometimes out in the bush and with a face covered in blood it’s a fly magnet. Nobody really wants that to happen to them and so I think she cat-like was just cleaning up the kids before they headed off.