Monitoring the effects of non-trivial handling in free-living cheetahs

The long-term effects of wearing a radio collar, aerial radio-tracking and lair examination were assessed in cheetahs, a species potentially sensitive to disturbance and non-trivial handling. Females wearing collars weighing less than 2% of their body weight reproduced regularly, had equivalent food intake and hunting success and were in similar body condition to uncollared females. Collared and uncollared females failed to catch prey for the same reasons. Aerial radio-tracking that involved flying at tree height to pinpoint the locations of cheetahs did not appear to disturb habituated females or cause them to abandon their cubs. Entering lairs on foot to count and weigh cubs while the mother was absent did not appear to increase the likelihood of cub predation by other carnivores or abandonment by the mother. These results indicate that the behaviour and reproduction of even sensitive mammals need not be affected by field techniques, provided lightweight collars are used and stringent precautions are followed. Measures devised to determine the effects of non-trivial handling in this study are discussed in relation to those that can be obtained in other studies of large mammals.