Data are presented on the demography and reproductive success of cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) living on the Serengeti Plains, Tanzania over a 25-year period. Average age at independence was 17.1 months, females gave birth to their ®rst litter at approximately 2.4 years old, interbirth interval was 20.1 months, and average litter size at independence was 2.1 cubs. Females who survived to independ...

Muscle samples were taken from the gluteus, semitendinosus and longissimus muscles of a captive cheetah immediately after euthanasia. Fibres were 'skinned' to remove all membranes, leaving the contractile filament array intact and functional. Segments of skinned fibres from these cheetah muscles and from rabbit psoas muscle were activated at 20°C by a temperature-jump protocol. Step and ramp le...

Alexandra Switzer*, Linda Munson, Cari Beesley, Patricia Wilkins, Jason K. Blackburn & Laurie Marker UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, U.S.A. Stanford School of Medicine, 291 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA 94305, U.S.A. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd, Atlanta, GA 30333, U.S.A. Spatial Epidemiology & Ecology Research Laboratory,...

Cheetah populations are diminishing rapidly in their natural habitat. One reason for their decline is thought to be a high susceptibility to (infectious) diseases because cheetahs in zoos suffer from high disease-induced mortality. Data on the health status of free-ranging cheetahs are scarce, and little is known about their exposure and susceptibility to infectious diseases. We determined sero...

Biodiversity loss is a consequence of socio-ecological processes. Observations on anthropogenic actions toward ecosystems coupled to observations ecosystem metrics are needed help understand these processes so that management policies can be derived and implemented curb such destruction. Such data needs maintained in searchable portals. To this end, article delivers first-of-its-kind relational...

Within a large carnivore guild, subordinate competitors (African wild dog, Lycaon pictus, and cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus) might reduce the limiting effects of dominant competitors (lion, Panthera leo, and spotted hyena, Crocuta crocuta) by avoiding them in space, in time, or through patterns of prey selection. Understanding how these competitors cope with one other can inform strategies for thei...

The saber-toothed cat, Smilodon fatalis, and American lion, Panthera atrox, were among the largest terrestrial carnivores that lived during the Pleistocene, going extinct along with other megafauna ∼12,000 years ago. Previous work suggests that times were difficult at La Brea (California) during the late Pleistocene, as nearly all carnivores have greater incidences of tooth breakage (used to in...

The extent and progression of exposure to feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) virus in the cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus, was monitored by a world-wide serological survey with indirect fluorescent antibody titers to coronavirus. The indirect fluorescent antibody assay was validated by Western blots, which showed that all indirect fluorescent antibody-positive cheetah sera detected both domestic cat...