Early maternal behavior of wild cheetahs: Implications for captive husbandry

Against a background of poor breeding success and cub survival in captive cheetahs, a knowledge of the early maternal behavior in the wild may yield useful information for comparison with the captive situation. This paper documents the types of lair sites used by mothers to conceal their newborn cubs in the wild situation, and details patterns of maternal behavior observed during this period. Four kinds of lairs were used by cheetah mothers, and the amount of protection from the elements and predators was assessed for each. Lair type appeared to have little effect on cub survival. Cubs were concealed in lairs for 8.2 weeks on average, although larger litters tended to leave lairs earlier. During this period, cubs were moved to new lairs approximately every 5.6 days. Cubs were left for an average of 9.6 hours while their mothers went hunting, but mothers virtually always returned to them around nightfall, even if they failed to catch any prey. Maternal neglect and cub abandonment, which account for many cub deaths in captivity, are abnormal in the wild, except when prey is very scarce. Improved husbandry techniques, such as the provision of multiple, secluded nest boxes, and remote monitoring conditions should promote breeding success in captivity. In addition, noise and human disturbance should be minimized.     

Behavioral solutions to breeding cheetahs in captivity: Insights from the wild

Knowledge of cheetahs' behavior is increasingly seen as the key to solving the mystery of cheetahs' poor breeding performance in captivity. In the absence of zoos' maintaining systematic records of individuals' behavior during introductions, behavior of free-living animals can be informative. In the wild, most female cheetahs probably mate with males living in small groups or coalitions; thus, zoos may benefit from replicating these social conditions, provided injuries can be minimized. Relations between free-living coalition members are amicable, and escalated aggression was never witnessed during 4 years of observation. Some antagonism was seen in newly formed trios, although this had disappeared in longer established coalitions. Minor aggression occurred over carcasses, being greater at small and intermediate sized kills than at large ones. In the presence of females, mild intramale aggression was only seen within 1 of 7 coalitions. Free-living females showed similar rates of behavior in the presence of different numbers of males, aside from more frequent growling at large groups. These findings suggest that captive institutions should be less nervous about housing male cheetahs together and introducing females to groups of males for purposes of breeding. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Growth rate of 21 captive-born,mother-raised cheetah cubs

This paper presents the growth rate of 21 clinically normal, mother-raised. captive cheetah cubs from birth through 45 days of age. The development of a growth curve for healthy, mother-raised cheetah cubs provides a diagnostic tool for individuals involved in cheetah propagation. Use of the curve may alert caretakers to problems early and thus help reduce the high neonatal mortality rate seen in captive-born cheetah cubs. The growth curve was constructed using 21 (11 males and 10 females) captiveborn cheetah cubs from six litters (offspring of three unrelated adult males and three unrelated adult females) born at the Columbus Zoo from September 1985 through December 1989. Each cub was weighed to the nearest gram the morning after birth and approximately the same time every consecutive morning for 45 days. The mean weight the morning after birth was 463 g (range 385–542 g). The average litter size was 3.5 (range 2–4, n = 6). The daily weight gain was 40–50 g/cub/day.     

Captive breeding of cheetahs in North American Zoos: 1987–1991

From 1987 to 1991, the North American captive cheetah population increased by 38% (to 266 animals), due to importation and captive breeding. This population constitutes 26% of the world's captive cheetahs and 36% of all reproductively successful animals. Since 1956, 33% of all cubs born in North America occurred during this 5-year period. Because of importation of animals from breeding programs abroad, East African (A. jubatus raineyi) genes have been introduced into the North American cheetah population, and 39% of all cubs born during 1987--1991 were South African/East African hybrids. Also during this time, the breeding population and effective breeding population increased by 86% and 72.6%, respectively. The incidence of infant mortality decreased from 37% (last recorded for the years 1956 to 1986) to 28% (averaged over 5 years), although infant mortality during the latter period ranged from 15% (for unrelated parents) to 41% (for related parents). Management recommendations implemented to increase fecundity and population size appear to be successful, although the founder base of the population still has only been increased from 52 cheetahs in 1986 to 72 animals in 1991. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Habitat selection and feeding ecology of the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) in thicket vegetation: is the cheetah a savanna specialist?

Habitat selection and feeding ecology of a reintroduced population of cheetahs Acinonyx jubatus were studied in a 16 000 ha game reserve in the Eastern Cape Province (South Africa). Seventy per cent of the reserve is characterized by very dense thicket vegetation (valley bushveld) and the remainder is open and savanna-like. The results illustrated a strong effect of sex and group size on the behaviour of cheetahs. The coalition (three adult males) killed significantly larger animals (55% of kills weighed more than 65 kg) than single female cheetahs (less than 2% of kills weighed more than 65 kg). Female cheetahs showed temporal and spatial avoidance of lions by hunting at dawn and dusk and positioning their home ranges [95% utilization distribution (UDs)] significantly farther from the pride of lions than did the coalition. The coalition hunted earlier and later than female cheetahs, and 46% of their kills were made in darkness. In addition, their home range overlapped that of the lions and they showed neither temporal nor spatial avoidance of the lions. The rates of kleptoparasitism were lower and the kill retention times were longer than those reported elsewhere in Africa, and it is suggested that this is a consequence of the cover provided by the thicket vegetation and prey size. The home ranges (95% UDs) of female cheetahs incorporated more thicket vegetation than that of the coalition, indicating that the coalition is less susceptible to predation than single females. These data suggest that cheetahs possess greater behavioural flexibility than previously reported, that they can hunt successfully in thicket vegetation, sometimes in darkness, that they are not restricted to killing small to medium-sized prey, and that they may not be savanna specialists.     

Fertility assessment of cheetah males with poor quality semen

Reports on semen quality of the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) indicate that high percentages of abnormal morphs and sperm concentrations, 10 times lower than in domestic cats, are found in all populations. These characteristics are believed to result from unusual genetic homozygosity, hypothesized to have been caused by passage of the species through one or more population bottlenecks during its recent history. In a sample of 12 captive-living males, we found semen characteristics to be equal or inferior to those previously reported for males living in other captive facilities. Ten of these males (83.3%) nevertheless produced pregnancies. Seventeen of 19 pregnancies resulted from matings during a single estrus. This examination of the reproductive potential of males having comparatively inferior ejaculate quality supports the suggestion that husbandry programs may be more significant than physiological impairment in causing the low birth rates of captive cheetahs. These results also have implications for ascertaining fertility thresholds in mammalian populations undergoing increased levels of inbreeding as a consequence of habitat deterioration. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Spatial ecology of cheetahs on north-central Namibian farmlands

Knowledge of a species' ranging behaviour is both fundamental to understanding its behavioural ecology and a prerequisite to planning its management. Few data exist on the spatial ecology of cheetahs Acinonyx jubatus outside protected areas, but such areas are particularly important to their conservation. Cheetahs on Namibian farmlands occupied exceptionally large home ranges, averaging 1651 km² (±1594 km²), with no detectable effect of sex, social grouping or seasonality. Despite such large ranges, cheetahs tended to utilize intensively only a small fraction of that area: 50% of the fixes were located within an average of 13.9±5.3% of the home range. Ranges were not exclusive, overlapping on average by 15.8±17.0%, with male cheetahs showing more intra-sexual range overlap than did females. Coalitions of males appeared to select for a dense, prey-rich habitat, but this preference was not apparent for other social groupings. Conflict with humans is an important contributor to the species' decline, and these large, overlapping cheetah home ranges result in the movements of each individual cheetah encompassing many farms (21 based on the average home-range size). Consequently, many cheetahs may be exposed to a minority of farmers attempting to kill them, and also that many farmers may see the same cheetahs, thereby gaining an exaggerated impression of their abundance. Conservation priorities for cheetahs outside protected areas are the development of techniques for conflict resolution, as well as the maintenance and restoration of suitable habitat and promotion of land-management practices compatible with the continued existence of large carnivores.     

An isotopic technique to mark mid-sized vertebrates non-invasively

Understanding the basis of habitat choice having important implications for explaining the distribution of organisms, as well as helping to differentiate between habitats of different quality for effective management. In this study, the effects of sex, age and reproductive status on habitat use patterns of cheetahs Acinonyx jubatus in the Serengeti plains were explored using Ecological Niche Factor Analysis (ENFA). Our results showed that gender and territoriality did not affect patterns of habitat use. However, females tended to be more specialized when they were young than when they were older, displaying a more restricted ecological niche. Likewise, older females without cubs were more specialized than the same adult females with young cubs. This result did not hold for younger females. Altogether, the ENFA approach allowed us to (1) use the large amount of incidental sighting data collected over 12 years on cheetah spatial distribution; (2) identify the importance of reproductive status and age on the relationship between animals and their habitat; (3) further demonstrate that ENFA is applicable in a wide range of situations, including for exploring individual variation in niche definition.     

Spoor density as a measure of true density of a known population of free-ranging wild cheetah in Botswana

Knowledge of the abundance of animal populations is essential for their management and conservation. Determining reliable measures of abundance is, however, difficult, especially with wide-ranging species such as cheetah Acinonyx jubatus . This study generated a correction factor to calculate true cheetah density from spoor survey data and subsequently tested its accuracy using the following season's data. Data were collected from October 2005 to December 2006 on a known population of wild, free-ranging cheetah in the Jwana Game Reserve, Botswana. The cheetahs in the area were captured, tagged and photographed. The reserve was divided into twelve 9 km transects covering all vegetation types and prey densities. The total sampling distance was 8226 km, with a spoor density of 2.32 individual cheetah spoor per 100 km². To determine a precise and accurate spoor density, it was necessary to sample for a longer period during the dry season (April–September) than during the wet season (October–March). This difference may be due to cheetah behavioural changes with seasonal variations in habitat and prey. The true density was 5.23 cheetahs  per 100 km² ranging from 3.33 to 7.78 at the low and high points of the population, respectively. A positive linear correlation between spoor and true density was observed. This relationship differed in the wet and dry season and required refinement with the following season's data. Correction factors may be viable, but require further testing taking the behavioural responses to seasonal, habitat and prey variations into consideration.     

猎豹生理生化指标的测定

猎豹 (Ａｃｉｎｏｎｙｘｊｕｂａｔｕｓ )属食肉目、猫科、猎豹属 ,为大型食肉动物 ,原产于非洲草原 ,数量稀少 ,属《濒危野生动植物物种国际贸易公约》 (ＣＩＴＥＳ)附录Ⅰ动物。上海野生动物园于 1997年首次在国内繁殖并人工哺育成功这一珍稀动物 ,繁殖的 11只猎豹全部成活。现已有 2 0只 ,形成一较大的猎豹种群。有关猎豹的生理生化指标报道很少 ,而动物的生理生化指标是反映其机体状况的重要指标 ,也是实验研究的基础资料 ,更可为猎豹的驯养、繁殖及疾病诊治等提供重要的参考资料。为此 ,我们对本园 2 0只猎豹 (其中成年 9只 ,幼年 11只…     

Family effects on early survival and variance in long-term reproductive success of female cheetahs

1. While it is generally accepted that the survival of offspring within families may be correlated, the extent of correlation has been largely untested. Furthermore, the impact of such correlation on the estimated variance in females' reproductive success has rarely been quantified. 2. Here we use an exceptional data set from a long-term study of individually recognized cheetahs from the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania to formally quantify family effects in carnivores. 3. We show (i) that cubs from the same litter exhibit more similar fates than unrelated cubs when it comes to first-year survival; and (ii) that the observed variance of the long-term reproductive success of females is twice the variance expected under the assumption of complete independence of fates between cubs. 4. We suggest that family effects are likely to be widespread in vertebrates with average litter sizes > 1, and could have important consequences for population dynamics and population viability analyses.