Cheetah

[Toko]

Why Do Cheetahs Give Up the Hunt? It’s a Myth That Cheetahs Overheat While Hunting

[Richprins]

This is very interesting, especially as cheetah are difficult to compare to anything else?

Lion often give up when they don't get the prey to run toward other lion waiting in ambush. Leopard do their own thing...mostly small stalks? Wild Dog can chase anything for miles...Hyena have their own dark arts...


The one thing is that cheetah are 99% daytime hunters compared to the other cats?

I'm not so sure about the 60% success rate...as said they can outpace anything and in the greater spectrum that may refer more to how many of their kills get robbed by other predators. Vultures have even been known to chase them away.

Cheetah are at the apex of their developmental line, and pretty fragile, so maybe any possibility of injury is upmost in their instincts, depending on how hungry they are?

Bush type may also play a role, as their open savannah habitat is disappearing, but not so much in Namibia.

I've seen a couple of cheetah kills, and you can also watch them on tv. They pant themselves half to death for quite a while before starting to feed...

I wouldn't throw the theory away just yet...

[nan]

..... They pant themselves half to death for quite a while before starting to feed...
I wouldn't throw the theory away just yet...

you are right, I saw one a succesfull chase, and she waited about 2 hours before starting to eat, and before this kill, she try another... and stay 2 hours before she start again and catch her diner. It takes to me almost all the day

I had Whippets, build like Cheetah, with a deep breast and an exceptional heart... they played with other dogs until the other dogs can't move... but my dogs was not at their limits. Once my young male, chased a Rabbit ( )... he returned with a ... one meter long tongue ... without the Rabbit...

[Richprins]

Maybe the heart is the problem, nana?

[nan]

maybe a question of perspiration, Cheetah and dogs can't ...contrary to the horses

[Amoli]

During my visit to the Lion Park in September last year, I came across this little cub...

[Lisbeth]

Energetics gives new insight into the decline of cheetahs
By Louise de Bruin
Posted on 17 November 2014



An acclaimed international study looking into new reasons behind the dwindling numbers of cheetah in southern Africa had its inception at the University of Pretoria. Before this study, it was commonly thought that cheetah numbers were declining partly as a result of larger predators stealing their prey, thus lessening the availability of food and forcing them to expend more energy in search of food. However, a recent study offers new insight into why cheetahs may become vulnerable with regard to their energy levels, which could affect their general health and well-being and result in their ultimate decline.

The conceptual ideas for this study developed several years ago when Dr Michael Scantlebury, then a postdoctoral fellow, was studying mole rats in collaboration with Prof Nigel Bennett, holder of the Austin Roberts Chair of Mammalogy. From their innovative research using doubly labelled water (DLW) to determine daily energy expenditure (DEE) on caste differentiation in mole rats, which was incidentally published in Nature, they thought it a good idea to extend the study to a more enigmatic species like the cheetah to generate greater exposure for their ground-breaking findings.

The DLW method is a technique in terms of which so-called ‘heavy’ water is injected into an animal to evaluate its water loss through urination, defecation and perspiration in order to determine the amount of energy expended. During such activities, animals also produce carbon dioxide (CO₂). By analysing the production of CO₂, energy expenditure can be determined. Scantlebury found that even if 25% of a cheetah’s food is lost through kleptoparasitism (food stolen by larger predators), the effects are not devastatingly detrimental, as assumed previously. What proves to have a far greater negative effect on the well-being of cheetahs is the distance they have to walk in search of food.

The study, which evolved into an international collaboration, studied the energetics of 19 free-roaming cheetahs (fourteen in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, and five in the Karongwe Private Reserve near Hoedspruit). The results showed that, contrary to common wisdom, the energy output during a high-speed cheetah chase after prey is not excessive. Rather, it seems that the energy they use to locate food far outweighs that used during a chase. The authors of the paper suggest that human activity, rather than competition with larger carnivores, is the predominant reason for the decline of cheetahs. Cheetahs have a nomadic lifestyle with a vast range. Consequently the number of fences erected on farms and placed around reserves is imposes a tremendous restriction on their hunting opportunities, with a ripple effect on their energy budgets. Bennett says, ’Cheetahs, like all carnivores, tread an energetic tightrope and low energy has several negative consequences, which may affect the immune system, reproductive abilities and metabolism.’

An international study of this kind has many benefits, Bennett notes. Broad collaboration implies that more resources can be invested in the study, and input of experts from multidisciplinary fields can be obtained. A previous graduate and extraordinary professor at UP, Dr Gus Mills, and his wife Margie were instrumental in the fieldwork for this study done in the Kalahari. They were involved in a six-year intensive study of Kalahari cheetahs, and so the energy research was piggy-backed on their work. They could follow Kalahari cheetahs and collect important faecal samples, and also provide invaluable background data that was used to interpret the results of the energetics study.

According to Bennett, there is great promise in furthering the study and adapting the findings. Because this initial study was done in the extreme weather setting of the Kalahari, Bennett mentioned the value of monitoring cheetahs in other areas of their savannah habitat, such as parts of the Kruger National Park. It would also be interesting to look at areas with a higher density of prey. However, the importance of this study is not just that it has offered new insight into a species whose declining numbers have dwindled to less than 10 000. What this study also shows is the importance of tackling all angles of a situation. While man’s intention may have been good when designating and cordoning off areas for wildlife, the reality seems that when the environment is modified too drastically, adverse effects and unintended consequences often result.

http://web.up.ac.za/default.asp?ipkCate ... leID=22322

[Flutterby]

Thanks Lis....very sad.

[ExFmem]

Very enlightening study. Who knows what other, as yet undisclosed, "unintended consequences" human actions and behavior have on ALL species sharing the planet.

Sometimes I think the earth would be better off if one species in particular went extinct. Maybe we've reached the point of doing more harm than good, and have proven we don't deserve to survive based not only on how we treat other species, but also our own.

Unfortunately, Nature is value free and morally neutral.

[okie]

yeahhh , quite sad

Energetics gives new insight into the decline of cheetahs
By Louise de Bruin
Posted on 17 November 2014

............................................ The authors of the paper suggest that human activity, rather than competition with larger carnivores, is the predominant reason for the decline of cheetahs. Cheetahs have a nomadic lifestyle with a vast range. Consequently the number of fences erected on farms and placed around reserves is imposes a tremendous restriction on their hunting opportunities, .............................................

............................. What this study also shows is the importance of tackling all angles of a situation. While man’s intention may have been good when designating and cordoning off areas for wildlife, the reality seems that when the environment is modified too drastically, adverse effects and unintended consequences often result.

Now , if I could play a bit of " devils advocate " here , then I would say it was a total useless study to confirm what everyone has known for many years .
man has been the main reason for the decline of all animal species right throughout history , but for some reason there are some people out there who do not want to believe it , and set out to look for other reasons .
In terms of the law of conservation of energy , energy can neither be created or destroyed , and the total energy in the universe remains constant and is always in balance.
Mankind is a predator , and is a user of energy , and is overpopulating the earth , and as such require more and more energy to exist .
And as long as that continues , other species will continue to decline .