How to determine the gender of mammals from appearance or behaviour

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Klipspringer
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Re: How to determine the gender of mammals from appearance or behaviour

Post by Klipspringer »

Cheetah aging

Found this chart, it's not only the mane but also a more or less smooth coat -O-

Cheetah aging.jpg

I have not seen enough youngsters at close range to decide on smoothness 0:

But Flutterby's group does not have long hair left, so might fall into the newly independent category or they are a coalition of adult males 0:

And the two "brothers" have still the long hair .

It is really difficult to apply this 0'


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Re: How to determine the gender of mammals from appearance or behaviour

Post by Klipspringer »

I found a siblings group from the Masai Mara for comparison:

https://www.facebook.com/MaraMeruCheeta ... &__tn__=-R
Female Entito has never been spotter in the Reserve, but her cubs started exploring its territory soon after the mother had left them. In early September 2019, we observed three adolescents – two males and a female roaming together. Siblings stay together from a few days to several months, after which young females leave the brothers. By March 2020, only one male was remaining out of the trio.
Image
Three littermates: two brothers with their sister (walking)

They look pretty similar to Flutterby's group of four!


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Re: How to determine the gender of mammals from appearance or behaviour

Post by Klipspringer »

Another siblings group from Masai Mara National Reserve.

Two brothers and one sister in mid-March, about two weeks after the mother had left them.

These ones look still very fluffy.

https://www.facebook.com/MaraMeruCheeta ... &__tn__=-R

Image

Image

Image


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Re: How to determine the gender of mammals from appearance or behaviour

Post by Lisbeth »

and their hunting tactics still have to be refined O**


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Re: How to determine the gender of mammals from appearance or behaviour

Post by Klipspringer »

Lisbeth wrote: Wed Jul 08, 2020 11:32 am and their hunting tactics still have to be refined O**
:yes:

If you are lucky you can watch some immature behaviour, such as chasing about everything eg. very inappropriate prey (birds, zebra).

Lisbeth, what do you think about Flutterby's group: Are they young adults or newly independent subadults or a mother with older cubs?


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Re: How to determine the gender of mammals from appearance or behaviour

Post by Lisbeth »

I am tempted to say a mother with grown cubs. Not because of their look, but because of the behaviour. Pic one: Mother lying down relaxing and kids ready for "who knows what" and second pic: The mother walking in front and the three following. Only my impression with no obvious proof -O-


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Re: How to determine the gender of mammals from appearance or behaviour

Post by Richprins »

They all seem to be quite adult? -O-


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Re: How to determine the gender of mammals from appearance or behaviour

Post by Flutterby »

That's what we thought. -O-


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Re: How to determine the gender of mammals from appearance or behaviour

Post by Mel »

nan wrote: Tue Jul 07, 2020 11:43 pm
ExFmem wrote: Tue Jul 07, 2020 11:36 pm We Kalahari addicts can certainly post PLENTY of them, just not sure exactly what is wanted here. -O- \O
0/*
good question \O
Maybe Klippie can answer that :-0


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Re: How to determine the gender of mammals from appearance or behaviour

Post by Klipspringer »

1. There is no sexual dimorphism in cheetah.
2. If you can not see the testes or the area with testes abesent, you need indirect hints to tell the sex (type of social unit)
These are the social units
a) single adult (impossible to guess the sex, unless you see marking behaviour of territorial males or oestrus behaviour of females)
b) group with animals of equal height (try to age the individuals, look at mane and coat)
- mother with offspring: my understanding is, that dependent offspring ALWAYS has a fluffy mane, I might be proven wrong, if you have a photo of a mother with offspring without fluffy mane
- newly independent sibling group or newly independent male coalition; my understanding is that these animals ALWAYS have fluffy manes left
- almost mature siblings group (or coalition); they might have lost their manes (almost or completely????)
- group of adults should be a coalition (unless a pair during courtship)

You can see here: it comes down to aging the animals seen in groups and here the KTP experts can help, indeed.

Any proof of a mother with unmaned offspring?
How do cubs look like at the time they are feft alone (evidence of cubs recently independent or the last sighting before independence)?
Any proof of what siblings group look like (are they still together as a group at the age when they have lost their manes)?
What does a newly independent single female look like?
Any comparison photos for aging adults (smooth coat?): is it possible to tell subadults from adults?
Floater coalitions or singles (cheetah males you have seen for a while and then they left)?

Any other clues: territorial/agonistic/immature/... behaviour?

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