IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Laurenson, M.K. | |
| Behavioural costs and constraints of lactation in free-living cheetahs | |
| 1995 Animal Behaviour (50): 815-826 | |
Increased energetic expenditure during lactation must be met either from metabolic stores or by increasing food intake. Additional behavioural costs and constraints may be imposed on those species that conceal their young in a fixed place. This study examines how wild cheetahs, Acinonyx jubatus, alter their behaviour during lactation and whether denning involved extra costs or constraints. Females almost doubled their food intake when lactating, although only mothers with cubs in the lair increased the time they spent drinking. Higher levels of food intake were achieved by catching a greater proportion of larger prey items, hunting these at a higher rate and by increasing the success rate of hunts. Lactating females with emerged cubs increased the proportion of time they spent observing and hunting relative to time spent resting and moving. When lactating females had cubs in the lair they were on the move for longer each day, travelled further, had restricted ranging patterns and tended to make more kills in the heat of the day than when accompanied by their cubs. These latter results suggest that the need to find a safe place, near water, in which to conceal immobile and vulnerable cubs may impose additional behavioural constraints and costs and lactating females. |
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