Two male cheetahs have been spotted mating with the same female in an incredibly rare sighting captured on camera.
The extraordinary mating ritual was recorded on camera in the Kalahari Desert by a group of tourists as four giraffes looked on.
The footage, taken at Tswalu reserve in South Africa, captured the moment both male cheetahs pinned the female to the ground.
As the female tried to wriggle free one male sank his teeth into the back of her neck to hold her in place.
Both males then jostled to get on top before the female fought them off.
Juan Venter, who captured the rare scene on video, said the sight was so rare because cheetahs are usually shy when mating.
The 26-year old said: 'When we arrived at the scene, we heard a lot of shouting and screaming and it looked like they were fighting but it was two males in a coalition on the same female with both males trying to mate at the same time.
'This was the reason for all the noise. When I realised what was busy happening my heart bounced out of my chest.
'I had no words. I just told my guests to keep on filming because they will never see this again.
'The cats ended up crawling into a bush hiding, as cheetah are incredibly shy when mating and we didn't want to bother them as, you need to respect nature.
'I have friends in the industry that have been guiding for more than 15 years and they have never seen this happen.
'As for me, it's possibly the first and the last time that I will ever see something like this again.
'The only time this is seen, is in captivity. I almost want to say that the chance of seeing a pangolin is better than to see this happening.
'This experience had a big impact on my career as I have seen many rare things but personally, this became for sure number one on my personal bests.'
The Tswalu Kalahari Reserve is a privately owned game reserve in the Northern Cape of South Africa.
It is South Africa’s largest private game reserve, covering an area of over 114,000 hectares.
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