‘Earth at Night in Color’ Recap: ‘Cheetah Plains’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the finale of ‘Earth at Night in Color’.
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The age-old phrase, ‘burning the midnight oil’, is one that still carries great weight in our modern world. Simply because mankind believes in hard work and keeping at it until the job is done, and that’s why a great deal of us work into the wee hours… so we can keep our bosses happy and enjoy the satisfaction of a job well done. But what truly makes this phrase so unique and so incredibly fascinating, is the sheer fact that it actually applies to the natural world as well. Which sounds impossible, since the prevailing belief is that animals don’t have 'jobs' that would require them to 'work' late into the night.

But believe it or not, there are goals that require them to keep going after the sun goes down, and thanks to the finale of Earth at Night in Color, we got to see exactly what burning the midnight oil looks like in the animal kingdom. A feat that ‘Cheetah Plains’ accomplished by transporting us back to where our journey began in this series; the Massai Mara grasslands in Kenya, all so that we could see why the Cheetah will in fact, ‘work’ late. An act that more or less relates to food. Because despite the incredible speed that these felines are known for, a great deal of their hunts ends in outright failure. Which means that when these big cats are indeed starving, they will continue the search for food, once the sun goes down in order to feed themselves and their families. 

Which should make it seem as though their problems are solved with ease, since late night prey should be easy to track down. But alas, a late night search for food brings forth all kinds of challenges for these intrepid hunters. Partly because their sight isn’t quite attuned to night hunting and also because… the silence of the night allows for their prey to hear them coming and avoid them accordingly or make use of the cheetah's movements, to ensure their own safety. Since there are wildebeest in this part of the world that follow cheetahs at a distance, all so they can anticipate any sudden movements and avoid any danger. A plan that tends to work, most of the time.

But while a slip-up definitely helps these hungry hunters out from time to time, that doesn’t necessarily mean they will get to enjoy their newfound meal. For hyenas are quite active at night and they tend to travel in massive cackles of up to sixty and that tends to force the cheetah to abandon its catch to ensure its own safety when the hyena decides it wants their kill and oddly enough, the hyena tends to cause more trouble for this feline than we previously knew. Since they are bold when they travel in numbers and tend to attack and eat Cheetah cubs in the middle of the night since they are easy prey, and that almost happened in this tale. But thanks to a wonderful assist from a feisty and irritated elephant, this particular group of cubs managed to remain safe. 

As did the brothers that this episode focused upon. For eventually, they got their kill, and even managed to peacefully share it with a hungry hyena and well… all of these elements made for one incredible tale. One that really did show us that some animals are willing to ‘work late’ into the night, if it involves enjoying a full stomach and it was simply fascinating to see how these big cats’ function in the middle of the night. But alas, there is a complaint that needs to accompany this episode, in that… this is the end of our journey and that’s a shame. Because this was a genuinely fascinating series, one that really did offer up an incredible look at an aspect of our world that has remained hidden for so long and hopefully, AppleTV+ takes the time to provide us with follow up to this documentary. So that we can continue to learn exactly what goes on in the world, when we’ve retired to our beds for the night.

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