A cheetah usually hunts alone, but when her cubs, are about six weeks old they follow her. At four months old they are weaned, and the mother takes them on practice hunts, giving them a chance to try out the skills they have acquired while romping with their litter mates in their first few months of life. Now the paw slap they have used endlessly in daily play is used to fell prey. The mother lets her cubs learn from their mistakes, and continues to feed them until they can hunt for themselves. The ability to learn through trial and error is essential for the survival of many animals.
Young badgers get no help from their parents in learning to forage.
They enquire into everything, and are quick to discover that turning over stones with their snouts produces food such as works and beetles. They soon learn what tastes good and what does not, and rapidly develop a successful foraging pattern.