🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

Creel and Creel demonstrated that African wild dog populations are limited not by prey scarcity but by competition with lions and spotted hyenas, which kill dogs and steal their kills. Analyzing demog…

Creel, S. & Creel, N.M. · Conservation Biology · 1996

Ogada and colleagues conducted a controlled comparison of husbandry practices on Laikipia ranches in Kenya to identify which measures reduce predation by lions, leopards, hyenas, and cheetahs. By corr…

Maurice O. Ogada, Rosie Woodroffe, Nicholas O. Oguge, Laurence G. Frank · Conservation Biology · 2003

In this follow-up, Durant used experimental playbacks and detailed observation to show that Serengeti cheetahs actively avoid lions and spotted hyenas at fine spatial and temporal scales, moving away…

Durant, S.M. · Behavioral Ecology · 2000

Wilson and colleagues fitted free-ranging cheetahs with custom collars carrying GPS and inertial sensors to capture the biomechanics of hunting in the wild rather than on a track. The data overturned…

Alan M. Wilson, J. C. Lowe, K. Roskilly, P. E. Hudson, K. A. Golabek, J. W. McNutt · Nature · 2013

This landmark study fitted free-ranging cheetahs in Botswana with custom solar-powered GPS-IMU collars logging position, acceleration, and turning at high frequency during real hunts. Rather than conf…

Wilson, A.M.; Lowe, J.C.; Roskilly, K.; Hudson, P.E.; Golabek, K.A.; McNutt, J.W. · Nature · 2013

Building on their Nature note, Clubb and Mason developed a fuller comparative model of which natural traits predict poor captive welfare in carnivores. Across dozens of species they tested whether hom…

Clubb R, Mason GJ · Applied Animal Behaviour Science · 2007

Sinclair, Mduma and Brashares tested why some Serengeti ungulate species are regulated by predation while others are limited by food, using long-term data across the migratory and resident herbivore c…

Sinclair, A.R.E., Mduma, S. & Brashares, J.S. · Nature · 2003

Marker, Dickman, and Macdonald evaluated the Cheetah Conservation Fund's program placing Anatolian shepherd and Kangal guarding dogs with Namibian farmers to reduce cheetah and other predator losses.…

Laurie L. Marker, Amy J. Dickman, David W. Macdonald · Rangeland Ecology & Management · 2005

Cheetahs breed poorly in captivity, and this study asked whether temperament was part of the problem. Keepers rated individual cheetahs on behavioural traits, yielding dimensions such as tense-fearful…

Nadja Wielebnowski · Zoo Biology · 1999

This study examined genetic variation across the cheetah's range and delineated the relationships among African and Asiatic populations, supporting recognition of several subspecies. The authors estim…

Charruau P, Fernandes C, Orozco-terWengel P, et al. · Molecular Ecology · 2011

Owen-Smith and Mills assembled a detailed predation web for Kruger National Park, quantifying which predators kill which prey and in what proportions across the size spectrum. They mapped how lion, le…

Owen-Smith, N. & Mills, M.G.L. · Journal of Animal Ecology · 2008

This study investigated feline coronavirus infection in cheetahs after a devastating outbreak of feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) struck a captive cheetah facility with unusually high mortality. By…

J. L. Heeney, A. J. Evermann, A. J. McKeirnan, et al. · Journal of Virology · 1990

This synthesis pulled together the individual prey-preference analyses for lion, leopard, cheetah, spotted hyena and wild dog to quantify dietary overlap across the African large-carnivore guild. By c…

Hayward, M.W. & Kerley, G.I.H. · South African Journal of Wildlife Research · 2008

This installment of the Hayward series quantified prey selection by African wild dogs, a key competitor of cheetahs and a frequent victim of intraguild predation by lions and hyenas. Using kill record…

Hayward, M.W., O'Brien, J., Hofmeyr, M. & Kerley, G.I.H. · Journal of Zoology · 2006

Part of Hayward's comparative prey-preference series, this study quantified cheetah prey selection across study sites by relating kill records to prey availability. Cheetahs preferentially took medium…

Hayward, M.W., Hofmeyr, M., O'Brien, J. & Kerley, G.I.H. · Journal of Zoology · 2006

Though not a felid, the spotted hyena is the dominant competitor and kleptoparasite of African big cats, so its prey preferences are central to felid dynamics. Hayward compiled kill and diet records a…

Hayward, M.W. · Journal of Zoology · 2006

This landmark genetic study explained the long-noted fact that cats show little interest in sweet foods. The researchers found that cats carry a defective, non-functional version of Tas1r2, one of the…

Xia Li, Weihua Li, Hong Wang, et al. · PLoS Genetics · 2005

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone and its agonists are used to induce ovulation in cats by stimulating the pituitary to release luteinizing hormone, substituting for the natural mating stimulus. This ove…

Captive cheetahs suffer unusually high rates of chronic gastritis associated with Helicobacter infection, a condition far more severe than in most other felids and a significant cause of morbidity in…

The extinct American cheetah of the genus Miracinonyx superficially resembled the living cheetah, with adaptations for fast pursuit of swift prey such as the pronghorn. This overview surveys genetic a…

Popular accounts fixate on the cheetah maximum speed, but field data suggest acceleration and deceleration matter more for catching prey. This overview weighs the relative importance of burst accelera…

A cheetah sprint is brief and metabolically violent. This overview compiles what is known about the energetic cost of the chase, the reliance on anaerobic pathways during the seconds of peak effort, a…

As cats age, their reproductive output typically declines through reduced fertility, smaller litters, and lower offspring survival. This overview surveys patterns of age-related fertility decline acro…

A growing body of welfare thinking holds that giving animals control over their environment, the ability to make choices and influence outcomes, is itself a key contributor to good welfare. This overv…

Atipamezole, an alpha-2 adrenergic antagonist, reverses the sedative and immobilizing effects of medetomidine and dexmedetomidine, allowing controlled and rapid recovery from anesthetic protocols that…

A survey of the two principal felid hunting strategies, stalk-and-ambush used by most cats and the high-speed pursuit of the cheetah, and their ecological consequences. Ambush predators rely on cover…

Chemical immobilisation is sometimes unavoidable for examining or treating large carnivores, but it carries welfare and mortality risks and is itself stressful. This overview surveys the welfare consi…

Artificial insemination offers a way to move cheetah genetics between institutions and to breed animals that will not pair naturally, but it remains technically challenging in this species. This overv…

Pregnancy rates from artificial insemination in wild cats remain modest and variable, reflecting the biological and technical challenges of the procedure. This overview surveys reported success rates…

Assisted reproductive technologies, including artificial insemination, semen and embryo cryopreservation, and in vitro fertilization, have been applied to felids to support captive breeding and conser…