Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus)- Data, Pictures & Videos

[Acinonyx sp.]

Some data on cheetah predation from:How does the ungulate community respond to predation risk from cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) in Samara Private Game Reserve?

Ginsberg and Milner-Gulland (1994) found that carnivore species exhibited strong selection patterns for certain prey species age and sex classes. Berger and Gompper (1999) determined that for 74% of 31 mammal species, males were disproportionally killed relative to their overall abundance. This has been illustrated in a number of different studies, for example, Schaller (1972) found that approximately 55% of Thompson‟s gazelle (Gazella thompsoni) killed by cheetah within the Serengeti were subadults, with no obvious selection for different sexes. However, Fitzgibbon (1990) found that cheetah selectively hunt male Thompson‟s gazelle in the Serengeti. In the Kruger National Park, male impala (Aepyceros melampus) were selectively hunted by cheetah, this was also observed for male springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis) within the Kalahari (Mills 1984; Mills et al. 2004). In contrast, within Phinda Resource Reserve, cheetah select juveniles over adults and particularly juveniles of larger ungulate species (Hunter 1998). The selective hunting of male ungulates in Kruger National Park (impala, Mills et al. 2004), Kalahari Gemsbok National Park (springbok, Mills 1984) and Serengeti (Thompson‟s gazelle, Fitzgibbon 1990), could occur due to a number of possible factors including the tendency of males to be found on the periphery of social groups, males exhibiting lower levels of vigilance and the fact that males often occur in small unstable bachelor herds and have greater nearest-neighbour distances than females. In contrast, Bissett (2004) found that in Kwandwe Private Game Reserve, cheetah selectively hunted female kudu over male kudu, possibly due to the risk associated with hunting adult males. Schaller (1972) determined that within the Serengeti, lion were observed killing only female Bohor reedbuck (Redunca redunca) within a population. These studies illustrate that within a prey population predators preferentially target certain demographic classes over others (Berger & Gompper 1999). This asymmetrical targeting of different age and gender classes within a species should reflect differences in behavioural responses to predation risk as different demographic classes will have varying levels of perceived predation risk depending on susceptibility to predation. Reply