Fine-scale differences in predicted and observed cheetah diet : does sexual dimorphism matter? : short communications

In a world where the natural environment is being altered rapidly by the activities of a burgeoning human population, large predators (individuals with body mass greater than 21.5 kg which consume mainly meat; Carbone & Gittleman 2002) face increased competition for space and food in the remaining refuges they inhabit (Balme et al. 2009). As a consequence, understanding the resource requirements of large predators is imperative if we are to conserve these species. In the past decade, our understanding of large predators' prey preferences have advanced from a conglomeration of single site studies with limited connectivity to a field dedicated to the meta-analysis of predator resource acquisition (Hayward 2009). These meta-analyses have given us insight into the patterns driving prey preference in the suit of large African predators (Hayward et al. 2006).