(Reuters) - Cheetahs can aptly be called the race cars of the animal kingdom: sleek, graceful and supremely speedy.
Scientists have now taken a look under the hood of these feline Ferraris to gauge how much energy they burn as they traverse their African habitats and to gain insight into factors that may be contributing to their population plunge.
A study published on Thursday in the journal Science described how researchers tracked 19 free-roaming cheetahs for two weeks at two sites in South Africa and Botswana. They measured energy expenditure after injecting cheetahs with isotope-laden water and later analyzing their feces.
They were surprised to learn that cheetahs used relatively little energy in their high-speed chases for prey like gazelles and impalas. The world's fastest land mammals, known for their spotted coat, cheetahs accelerate from a standstill to 96 kph in three seconds.
The findings contradicted the hypothesis that cheetahs spend a large amount of energy catching new prey after bigger competing predators like lions and hyenas steal carcasses brought down by them.
Their biggest energy drain is the distances cheetahs must walk while seeking prey thanks to man-made problems like habitat loss in grasslands, fences restricting free travel and people killing too many of the animals cheetahs eat.
Queen's University Belfast biologist Michael Scantlebury, who led the study, said the cheetahs travel up to nearly 30 km per day. He said "Cheetahs may be Ferraris but most of the time they are driving slowly," moving over sand dunes in baking heat with no water to drink.
Cheetah populations have declined from about 100,000 to 10,000 over the past century, experts say.
"Humans are responsible for their dwindling numbers. We need to be more careful and maintain the remaining areas of the world that are truly wild. We must think about the consequences of our actions," Scantlebury said.
edited from Reuters
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