large African carnivores

Question 1

cursorial animals

Answer 1

• something that runs with legs on same plane
  long limbs
  spinal flexion - carnivores
  decreased distal limb mass - tendon at bottom of legs
  movement on stable plane

Question 2

strategries for cursirial carnivores

Answer 2

speed
power
endurnace
manoevuring
ambush
group work

Question 3

strategies for grazers and browsers

Answer 3

speed
manoeuvring
endurance
hiding
vigilance
defence
distribution

Question 4

locomotion research

Answer 4

• lab - force plates = high speed cameras and motion capture
• field - wildlife collars and gps with accelorometers

Question 5

what limits speed

Answer 5

stride length and freq = speed
swing time
need to turn
forces the muscles can withstand - peak force limits GRF

Question 6

Transverse gallop

Answer 6

one ariel period where all four limbs off ground

Question 7

rotary gallop

Answer 7

two points where all four limbs are off ground, faster than transverse gallop

Question 8

plantigrade, digitrade and uniguligrade

Answer 8

plant = entirety of foot on ground
digi = toes on floor ie. dog
uni- only toenails on ground ie. prey and has adaptation for running due to greater stride

Question 9

cats running adaptation

Answer 9

shorter legs but cats increase stride length by having more flexible trunk

Question 10

swing time adapttaion

Answer 10

decreased distal limb mass - reduces amount of muscular work required to swing limb
muscle fibre type composition and size - longer fibres can contract at higher velocities
greater proportion of fast fibres enable faster contraction

Question 11

cheetah

Answer 11

40mph captivity and 58 in wild

Question 12

cheetah vs greyhound study

Answer 12

cheetah have slightly longer back and slightly longer leg, every stride they take is bigger
have greater abilauty to reduce sing time - active limb protraction - psoas muscle

Question 13

cheetah running in the wild botswana

Answer 13

1/3 of runs involved more than one period of sustained acceleration
runs occurred on or after dawn during the day and night
48% runs in open habitats, 28% open around trees, 24% dense vegetation
31% runs in dense habitat successful vs 20% runs in open habitat
botswana

Question 14

key differences for hynas

Answer 14

straighter legs
lack of distal muscle mass
smaller and lighter

Question 15

fibre types of cheetah and domestic dogs

Answer 15

in humans = pos correlation between proportion of fast fibres with acceleration and max constant speed
cheetah = 83% vastus lateralis 61% gastrocnemius muscle = FOG and FG fibres
dogs = Gastronemius = 50% SO 50% FOG

Question 16

ambush predators = lions and leopards

Answer 16

stealth and stalking. 30m in lions and 5m in leopards
short muscular legs = power is proportional to muscle volume, lion fast fibres types (type 11x) produce significantly greater force and - 3x power of human type 11ax muscle fibres

Question 17

slowing down to turn and how do predators out manoeuver

Answer 17

• leaning becomes important
• grip to ground with claws as lean
  predators superior at prey at turning ability - prey have hoof which is good for longer leg but not so good for turning
  outperomace due to decelartion - put breaks on to turn more effectively

Question 18

cheetah adaptations

Answer 18

• non retractable of claws for grip apart from jude claw at back that uses to capture prey so kept in to be nice and sharp
  less limited by forces due to grip so turn
  tail - massive and heavy and use tail as rudder to whip across to brake for turns

Question 19

pronking

Answer 19

jumping in prey
change direction rapidly, confuse predators, honest signal of ability- only fittest individuals can do

Question 20

ambush predators vs prey

Answer 20

greater flexibilty in diet so slower prey at risk
slower prey built for power and strength so outfight predators, have more defence ie. horns

Question 21

killing techniques

Answer 21

paw swipe
strangulation
neck bite
exhaustion
disembowelling

Question 22

post kill adaptations

Answer 22

leopards cache their kills, hide in branches to prevent kleptoparastism (stealing others prey)
powerful hindlimbs and claws to grip to climb

Question 23

hiding - behavioural

Answer 23

predators for ambush hunting
prey hiding young

Question 24

group strategies - behavioural

Answer 24

group hunting, coalitions of cheetah
prey - vigilance and alrm calls of groups, selfish herd/dilutoion of risk- less likely to be eaten, protection in middle of group but reduces fresh food avaiability, distrubutuion of landscape - place yourself where you see predators but they see you

Question 25

group hunting predators

Answer 25

smaller predators are able to overwhelm in big group reduce variation in kill rate - group can get one kill a day but individuals like cheetah kill one for two days and then none for another 5 days etc reduce distance travelled - save energy overcome phsyical defense - pull tail and take down cooperative hunting = two or more increasing fitness together to achieve common goal collaberative hunting = individuals in group taking on different roles, high cognition

Question 26

julia myatt study on african wild dogs in botswana

Answer 26

116 sucessful kills defined by clustering dogs started in wider formation multiple short high speed chases group kill rate increased with number of dogs runnning hunt as group share the kill habitat and prey dependent on - open habitat = large prey herds vs denser habitat = small prey herds and medium prey so less cooperation

Question 27

group vigilance in prey

Answer 27

alter level of vigilance and alter positiom within group - costly behvaiours decrease feeeding traits, alter diet and stress dilution of risk in middle selfish herd hypothesis = want to be middle and protected - alarm calls - group defence - pin wheel where vulnerable young in middle

Question 28

intra guild relationsjips

Answer 28

large predators live in same environment so lots of competition - pecking order of predators - lions and hyenas, leopards middle and cheetahs and African wild dogs at bottom hyena has strength in numbers and size and open and scrub habitats, active in dawn and dusk leopards - more active in day and solitary cheetahs -solitary and hunt day but dif environemnts

Question 29

impact of temp increase

Answer 29

- in hot = more overlapping time to hunt because hot uses energy so more conflict in hunting times, likelihood of meeting competitors increases

Question 30

feeding strategies

Answer 30

african wild dogs share and eat rapidly lions and hyaena compete with numbers leopards cache and return cheetah takes time to eat kill and hesitant when eating

Question 31

rising temp effect on wild dogs

Answer 31

reduced hunting efficiency - typically hunt during cooler parts of day to avoid heat stress, increasing temp limit these period and reduce hunting altered reproductive timing - often have denning season and pack restricted during period to feed pups and this aligns with cool time of year, as cool season shortens due to climate change, this shift results in pups being born during hotter affecting survival increased mortality - higher ambient temp associated with increased mortality risks for African wild dogs, heightened susceptibility for disease and greater human animal conflict potential pop collapse = projections suggests temp increase by 3 - leads to extinction

Question 32

drought - okavango delta botswana

Answer 32

- climate change and el nino led to increased drought and wildfires - water shortages impact agriculture and livestock - wildlife travel for water and conflict with human altered prey dynamics= increase hunting oppurtunties buyt inttraguild competetion of predators so need sustainable water management

Question 33

wild dog potential adaptations

Answer 33

- shifting range - live in harmony - shift time of hunting - shift time and location of breeding