Pettifer HL. 1981. Aspects on the ecology of cheetahs on the ...

ECOLOE| OF CAEE?A|S
reserve. Thls can be ascribed to the constaterable tim€ she spent 1n
this area alurlng whelplng of her cubs tn early June l9?9. Throughout
June she r€rDa
ineal ln thls area, but on 2 occaslons rfas observed as far
a6 7 ls! away fro|D her cubs. lVhlll€ s sldgleton, purdey appearod to roaD
ad lib throughout her home renge end wes noteal to have trqversod largo
sections ol thc leserve tn a slngte aldy. The iol'Ied plots tndlcato con_
secutive deys. The greatest straiBht-llne distence between consecutive
diurnal re8tlng Bltea was 8.? lq[,
Mary (Figure 3) had a sonewhat snaller hode range than purdey or Rosina.
Her 50 p€rcent home range iras slgniflcantly less than halt the 9, p€r_
cenl hooe rangs (x' = 23,83, p = 0.05), iDdtcsrtng a definit6 area of
preference. llery re6 accoq)rnted by 4 cubs when msrkeal. These cubs
broke ti€3 {lth her durtng Sept€ober l9?9. She ploduced 6 cubs durlog
December 19?9. She rhelped th€.e cubs ln the pr€terreat area and with
both llti€rs t€ualned reagonabty wtthtn thts area. She dlat, nowev€r,
undertake aeveral 6rcursion t!lp!, f,hIch c ffered lrm those ot the
oales ln thet they norfielly stretcheal ove! 6evetal days, wlth the ex_
cepllon of those to the er6t of the leaerve. T}reae excurslon trips
greatly influencod the atetelntnatlon ot h€! horne rango. Although itsry
had a Eore predictable horp rsnge, end dlstances between consecutlv€
diurnal rostlng slt€s ner€ nolmallJr shott, she dld on occasion movo con_
6iderable distances ln a stnglo day - the greatest st.alght_ltne dis_
tance being 12.5 t(d. Roslna (Ftgu!€ 4) showed a sleilar untform utllt_
zation of h€r 95 percent hoDe range to pur