clouded leopards - biology & behavoir
Males are very sociable and will group together for life, usually with their brothers in the same litter; although if a cub is the
only male in the litter then two or three lone males may group up, or a lone male may join an existing group. These groups are called
coalitions. In one Serengeti study by Caro and Collins (1987), 41% of the adult males were solitary, 40% lived in pairs and 19% lived in trios.
A coalition is six times more likely to obtain an animal territory than a lone male, although studies have shown that coalitions keep
their territories just as long as lone males - between four and four and a half years.
Males are very territorial. Females' home ranges can be very large and trying to build a territory around several females' ranges is
impossible to defend. Instead, males choose the points at which several of the females' home ranges overlap, creating a much smaller space,
which can be properly defended against intruders while maximizing the chance of reproduction. Coalitions will try their most to maintain
territories in order to find females with whom they will mate. The size of the territory also depends on the available resources; depending
on the part of Africa, the size of a male's territory can vary greatly from 37 to 160 km2 (14 to 62 sq mi).
Males mark their territory by urinating on objects that stand out, such as trees, logs, or termite mounds. The whole coalition contributes
to the scent. Males will attempt to kill any intruders and fights result in serious injury or death.
Unlike males and other felines, females do not establish territories. Instead, the area they live in is termed a home range. These overlap
with other females' home ranges, often those of their daughters, mothers, or female littermates. Females always hunt alone, although cubs
will accompany their mothers to learn to hunt once they reach the age of five to six weeks.
The size of a home range depends entirely on the availability of prey. Cheetahs in southern African woodlands have ranges as small as 34
km2 (13 sq mi), while in some parts of Namibia they can reach 1,500 km2 (580 sq mi).
hunting & diet
The cheetah is a carnivore, eating mostly mammals under 40 kg (88 lb), including the Thomson's Gazelle, the Grant's gazelle, the springbok
and the impala. The young of larger mammals such as wildebeests and zebras are taken at times, and adults too, when the cats hunt in groups.
Guineafowl and hares are also prey. While the other big cats mainly hunt by night, the cheetah is a diurnal hunter. It hunts usually either
early in the morning or later in the evening when it is not so hot, but there is still enough light.
The cheetah hunts by vision rather than by scent. Prey is stalked to within 10-30 m (33-98 ft), then chased. This is usually over in less
than a minute, and if the cheetah fails to make a catch quickly, it will give up. The cheetah has an average hunting success rate of around
50% - half of its chases result in failure.
Running at speeds up to 112 km/h (70 mph) puts a great deal of strain on the cheetah's body. When sprinting, the cheetah's body temperature
becomes so high that it would be deadly to continue - this is why the cheetah is often seen resting after it has caught its prey. If it is a
hard chase, it sometimes needs to rest for half an hour or more. The cheetah kills its prey by tripping it during the chase, then biting it
on the underside of the throat to suffocate it, for the cheetah is not strong enough to break the necks of the four-legged prey it mainly
hunts. The bite may also puncture a vital artery in the neck. Then the cheetah proceeds to devour its catch as quickly as possible before the
kill is taken by stronger predators.
The diet of a cheetah is dependent upon the area in which it lives. For example, on the East African plains, its preferred prey is the Thomson's
Gazelle. This small antelope is shorter than the cheetah (about 58-70 cm (23-28 in) tall and 70-107 cm (28-42 in) long), and also cannot run
faster than the cheetah (only up to 80 km/h (50 mph)), which combine to make it an appropriate prey. Cheetahs look for individuals which
have strayed some distance from their group, and do not necessarily seek out old or weak ones.
reproduction
Females reach maturity in twenty to twenty-four months, and males around twelve months (although they do not usually mate until at least
three years old), and mating occurs throughout the year. A study of cheetahs in the Serengeti showed that females are sexually promiscuous
and often have cubs by many different males.
Females give birth to up to nine cubs after a gestation period of ninety to ninety-eight days, although the average litter size is three to
five. Cubs weigh from 150 to 300 g (5.3 to 11 oz) at birth. Unlike some other cats, the cheetah is born with its characteristic spots. Cubs
are also born with a downy underlying fur on their necks, called a mantle, extending to mid-back. This gives them a mane or Mohawk-type appearance;
this fur is shed as the cheetah grows older. It has been speculated that this mane gives a cheetah cub the appearance of the Honey Badger
(Ratel), to scare away potential aggressors. Cubs leave their mother between thirteen and twenty months after birth. Life span is up to twelve
years in the wild, but up to twenty years in captivity.
Unlike males, females are solitary and tend to avoid each other, though some mother/daughter pairs have been known to be formed for small
periods of time. The cheetah has a unique, well-structured social order. Females live alone except when they are raising cubs and they raise
their cubs on their own. The first eighteen months of a cub's life are important - cubs learn many lessons because survival depends on knowing
how to hunt wild prey species and avoid other predators. At eighteen months, the mother leaves the cubs, who then form a sibling, or "sib"
group, that will stay together for another six months. At about two years, the female siblings leave the group, and the young males remain
together for life.
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