Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus)- Data, Pictures & Videos

[Acinonyx sp.]

Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus feeding ecology in the Kruger National Park and a comparison across African savanna habitats: is the cheetah only a successful hunter on open grassland plains?

[b]Abstract

The literature on cheetah Acinonyx jubatus ecology is dominated by studies on the Serengeti Plains (SNP) in East Africa. Because of this and the cheetah's hunting strategy it is generally considered to be a predator that prefers open grassland plains. However, cheetahs also inhabit a range of bush, scrub and woodland habitats. A field study using direct observations of radio-collared individuals in the woodland savanna habitat of the Kruger National Park (KNP), South Africa, and a literature review of studies across savanna habitats examined cheetah predation, hunting behaviour and habitat use in relation to prey composition, cover availability and kleptoparasitism. The cheetah's main prey is medium-sized herbivores, with a bias towards male prey. The group size and sex of the hunting cheetah may influence the results of prey selection studies as male coalitions tend to take larger prey than females. Cheetahs initiated more hunts and had a higher success rate in the open woodland savanna of the KNP compared to other available habitats with thicker bush, and in other wooded savanna areas they also prefer more open habitat for hunting. Although they appear to have shorter chase distances in more wooded habitats, hunting success appears to be slightly higher in open grassland habitat. Woody vegetation appears to obstruct the cheetah's high-speed hunting strategy, thereby lowering hunting success. However, cheetahs use cover for stalking prey and open habitats with bordering woodlands, or patches of cover are considered preferred cheetah habitats. In these habitats, cheetahs can stalk closer to their prey using available cover, but also successfully pursue their prey into available open spaces. Across African savanna ecosystems, cheetahs appear to be kleptoparasitised less in more wooded habitats. Therefore they may also prefer these habitats because they provide greater concealment from kleptoparasites. Our study suggests that the cheetah is more adaptable to habitat variability than is often thought and is not only a successful hunter on open grassland plains.
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e cheetah Acinonyx jubatus can easily reach a speed of 100 km per hour when hunting (Nowell & Jackson 1996). Such high-speed chases require good visibility and freedom from obstruction (Bertram 1979). Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that cheetahs require open habitats for successful hunting. The literature on cheetah ecology, which is dominated by studies conducted on the open grassland Serengeti Plains (SNP) in East Africa (Schaller 1972, Frame & Frame 1980, Caro 1986, Caro & Collins 1986, 1987, Durant, Caro, Collins, Alawi & Fitzgibbon 1988, Fitzgibbon & Fanshawe 1989, Fitzgibbon 1990, Laurenson, Caro, & Borner 1992, Caro 1994, Laurenson 1994, 1995a,b, Laurenson, Weilbnowlski & Caro 1995, Durant 1998), supports this assumption.
However, cheetahs also inhabit a wide range of bush, scrub and woodland habitats (Myers 1975, Marker-Kraus, Kraus, Barnett & Hurlbut 1996, Nowell & Jackson 1996, Purchase & du Toit 2000), although relatively little is known about their ecology and behaviour in these habitats. Woodland savannas, with a greater availability of cover than open plains, might inhibit cheetahs from attaining high speeds, but may confer other advantages not provided by grassland habitats. Cover is considered advantageous to cheetahs for stalking prey (Caro 1994, Purchase & du Toit 2000), because it enables them to get closer to the quarry before the chase, thereby reducing chase distance and improving hunting success (Eaton 1970, Fitzgibbon 1990, Caro 1994). Furthermore, cheetahs suffer from competition with the other large carnivores and are easily robbed of their prey (Schaller 1972, Bertram 1979, Mills 1990, Caro 1994, Nowell & Jackson 1996), so cover may also provide increased concealment to cheetahs after the hunt thereby reducing kleptoparasitism (Myers 1975, Zank 1995, Purchase & du Toit 2000).
As most cheetah studies have focused on grassland savannas, the comparative benefits of open spaces and cover in woodland savannas have not been fully explored. Additionally, no quantitative analysis has been done on variations in the use of prey by cheetahs across ecosystems. In this paper we aim to address these imbalances by: 1) adding to the existing knowledge on cheetah ecology and behaviour in woodland savannas by analysing data on cheetah predation, hunting behaviour and habitat use for hunting in the Kruger National Park (KNP), South Africa; 2) synthesising available information on cheetah predation in relation to prey com position, cover availability and kleptoparasitism from other studies (see Table 1); and 3) comparing this information across different African savanna ecosystems. Our hypothesis is that cheetah hunting behaviour varies as a function of habitat, and that the species is not exclusively a hunter on open plains. It is able to hunt adequately in savanna woodland habitats, which may even provide benefits not found on open plains. Testable predictions of this hypothesis are: (i) chase distances vary with habitat and are shorter in woodlands; (ii) hunting success rates (kills/hunting attempts) are comparable across habitats, but will be higher in more open habitats; and (iii) cheetah kills are kleptoparasitised less in wooded habitats than in open habitats.





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