© 1995 International Society for Behavioral Ecology
research-article |
Cub growth and maternal care in cheetahs
Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK Serengeti Wildlife Research Institute PO Box 661, Arusha, Tanzania M. K. Laurenson is now at Department of Biological and Molecular Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK.
ABSTRACT
Using cub growth as an index, I examine the influence of maternal nutrition, litter size, and cub sex on maternal care in cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) and compare cub and litter growth rates with those of other large feilds. Seventy-nine free-living cheetah cubs in 21 litters from 15 mothers were weighed at least once between 6 and 48 days of age. Eleven litters were weighed at the beginning and end of a 5-day observation of their mothers. The mean cub growth rate varied significantly between litters, due primarily to differences in maternal food intake. Growth declined sharply when maternal food intake was less than 1.5 kg/ day, but did not increase with greater levels of food intake. Lower limits of growth rates may therefore have been set by the mother's food intake, whereas upper limits may be set by the intrinsic physiological ability of cubs to grow. Although male cubs were heavier than female cubs in the same litter when first weighed, major differences in growth rate between the sexes were not apparent at this stage. Both cheetah cubs and litters grow fast relative to other large felids, and I argue that this may be an adaptation to the high rate of cheetah juvenile mortality from predation.
Key words: Acinonyx jubatus, cheetah, growth, lactation, life-history traits, maternal care, Serengeti. [Behav Ecol 6:405—409 (1995)].