1993/05/21 by John A. Phillips · 31 citations
Environmental Science · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Medicine · #Fish Ecology and Management Studies #Wildlife Ecology and Conservation #Identification and Quantification in Food #Acinonyx jubatus #Predation #Juvenile #Skull #Biology #Zoology #Animal science #Veterinary medicine #Ecology #Anatomy #Medicine
paper · doi:10.2307/1382408
published in Journal of Mammalogy 74(2), 487-492 (Oxford University Press)
openalex publication_date 1993/05/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2025/11/06
The feeding behavior of wild and wild-caught, captive cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) was observed to determine time spent at kills, the amount of food consumed, and especially, which, if any, bones were consumed. Wild cheetahs stayed with kills up to 11 h. Individual cheetahs consumed up to 10 kg of food in <2 h. Cheetahs consumed all bones, except the skull, of prey weighing < kg, and consumed a substantial proportion of the rib cage and vertebral column of 30–50-kg prey. Juvenile cheetahs (aged 6–16 months) had no difficulty crushing and consuming bones.