Investigating Cheetah Hunting Behavior-1

Cheetahs and other large cats are declining across Africa. Keeping healthy populations in protected areas like Serengeti National Park is vital to help save them.

To conserve cheetahs we need to understand how they interact with the other species around them. Especially with the gazelles they eat and other big carnivores like lions and hyenas. Which is where I come in.

My name is Anne Hilborn. I am PhD student at Virginia Tech, affiliated with the Zoological Society of London, and I study the hunting behavior of cheetahs in Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. I plan to do 9 months of fieldwork in 2014, and for that I need your help. My fieldwork involves being out on the plains of the Serengeti in a trusty Landrover, following cheetahs all day. I'll be collecting data on lots of cheetah hunts, from the impressive successes to the embarrassing failures.

Cheetahs are the world’s fastest land mammal and are generally quite good at hunting. But rarely do they get to hunt in peace. Lions and hyenas harass cheetahs, steal their kills, and occasionally kill cheetah cubs. Cheetahs face the daily dilemma of how to get enough food while avoiding the attention of other carnivores. This trade-off can affect how, where, and how often cheetahs hunt.

My research will help explain how cheetah hunting behavior is affected by other carnivores, and how this in turn determines how many gazelles cheetahs kill. Understanding the connections between species will help conserve cheetahs, other large carnivores, and the prey species they all depend on.

For more detail please go to

http://ahilborn.moonfruit.com

I plan on doing 9 months of fieldwork in Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. My work will involve following cheetahs for several days at a time and recording data on all of their hunts. This means I will be driving off-road and sleeping in the back of the Landrover most of the time. Any help you can give me to get me to the field and keep me there long enough to get useful amounts of data would be very much appreciated

What I need (i.e. A Fieldwork Registry)

$1350 will buy my airfare to Tanzania

$350 will buy a good pair of binoculars

$120 will buy a rechargeable Maglite flashlight

$100 will pay to put a platform in the car so I can sleep in the back while on multi day cheetah follows

$450 will pay for health insurance in case I get injured while in the field.

$1000 pays my rent at the research station

$5000 will pay for repairs on the Landrover to keep it fieldworthy, and good mud tires so I don’t spend too much time stuck out on the plains.

$115 buys a tank of diesel (I am going to need a lot of these)

$10,000 is needed for unglamorous costs- research fees, immigration fees, cell phone and internet services, and food and lodging on my supply trips to the town of Arusha.

Donors will get a monthly e-newsletter containing stories from the field, updates on cheetahs seen, car and weather related woes and hopefully lots of cheetah pictures.