The cheetah is capable of incredible feats of maneuverability [1] and these maneuvers generally involve rapid swinging of the animal’s lengthy tail. Very little is understood about the cheetah’s use of its tail and the common view is that it is “heavy” and possibly used as a “counter balance” or as a “rudder”. Ultimately, a deeper understanding of this specialized animal will inspire future hig...

Population viability is driven by individual survival, which in turn depends on individuals balancing energy budgets. As carnivores may function close to maximum sustained power outputs, decreased food availability or increased activity may render some populations energetically vulnerable. Prey theft may compromise energetic budgets of mesopredators, such as cheetahs and wild dogs, which are su...

The Kruger National Park is a stronghold for African wild dog Lycaon pictus and cheetah Acinonyx jubatus conservation in South Africa. Tourist photographic surveys have been used to evaluate the minimum number of wild dogs and cheetahs alive over the last two decades. Photographic-based capture-recapture techniques for open populations were used on data collected during a survey done in 2008/9....

Human-carnivore conflict continues to present a major conservation challenge around the world. Translocation of large carnivores is widely implemented but remains strongly debated, in part because of a lack of cost transparency. We report detailed translocation costs for three large carnivore species in Namibia and across different translocation scenarios. We consider the effect of various para...

OBJECTIVE To describe laparoscopic ovariectomy and salpingectomy in the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) using single-incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS). STUDY DESIGN Prospective cohort. ANIMALS Female cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) (n = 21). METHODS Cheetahs were randomly divided to receive either ovariectomy (n = 11) or salpingectomy (n = 10). The use and complications of a SILS port was evalu...

Many ecological theories and species conservation programmes rely on accurate estimates of population density. Accurate density estimation, especially for species facing rapid declines, requires the application of rigorous field and analytical methods. However, obtaining accurate density estimates of carnivores can be challenging as carnivores naturally exist at relatively low densities and are...

Hunting cheetah reportedly store metabolic heat during the chase and abandon chases because they overheat. Using biologging to remotely measure the body temperature (every minute) and locomotor activity (every 5 min) of four free-living cheetah, hunting spontaneously, we found that cheetah abandoned hunts, but not because they overheated. Body temperature averaged 38.4°C when the chase was term...

Both the behavioural and the morphological analyses confirm the special role of the dewclaw in the cheetah: a strong hook to stop running animals by using the energy of the victim itself. However, this would hardly be an explanation for the rather large dewclaw in the puma. The present finding of the puma as an intermediate between the cheetah and other large felids for dewclaw size, supports t...