Food Supply

The principle food of cheetahs living in the Serengeti are Thompson's gazelle, a small ungulate weighing between 16 and 25 kg each. Thomson's gazelle account for 60 to 65% of the cheetahs' diet and the remainder of their food includes hares, Grant's gazelle, wildebeest, and impala. A female with a litter may kill about one Thomson's gazelle per day. Solitary cheetahs kill about once every two to three days.

Cheetahs kill approximately less than 9% of the annual recruitment of Thomson's gazelle while other large carnivores take between 35 and 75% of the annual recruitment. While interspecific competition may result in less food for cheetahs, it would be hard to argue that food availability is a factor in cheetah decline at this time.

• Are there enough Thomson's gazelle on the Serengeti to maintain 2,000 cheetahs? (Hint: this calculation will require many different pieces of information contained in this module. What types of information do you think you will need to answer this question?)