Cheetahs are usually daytime hunters, but the speedy big cats will shift their activity toward dawn and dusk hours during warmer weather, a new study finds.
While cheetahs only eat fresh meat, lions and leopards will sometimes opportunistically scavenge from smaller predators.
But the new study found that on the hottest days, when maximum daily temperatures soared to nearly 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit), cheetahs became more nocturnal — increasing their overlapping hunting hours with rival big cats by 16%.
In addition to competition with lions and leopards, cheetahs already face severe pressure from habitat fragmentation and conflict with humans.
The fastest land animal, cheetahs are the rarest big cat in Africa, with fewer than 7,000 left in the wild.
Persons:
”, Briana Abrahms, Bettina Wachter, Wachter, Kasim Rafiq, Rafiq —, it's
Organizations:
Cheetahs, Royal Society, University of Washington, “, Cheetah Research, Leibniz Institute for Zoo, Wildlife Research, Botswana Predator Conservation, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group, AP
Locations:
“ Lions, Namibia, Botswana, Africa, Zambia