Figure 1.
The seven quantities derived from carnivore scats.
These quantities describe the conversion of prey body mass into numbers and weights of collectable scats excreted by a carnivore individual after prey consumption and the determination of prey digestibility.
Table 1.
Prey species and prey body mass provided to cheetahs during 15 feeding experiments, prey mass consumed and scats excreted by cheetahs, prey mass consumed per collectable scat and digestibility of prey species.
Figure 2.
Consumed mean prey mass (kg) per cheetah to excrete one collectable scat (Q5) as a function of mean prey body mass (kg) provided per feeding experiment (Q1). The curve represents CF1 and follows the exponential function y = 2.358(1-exp(−0.075x). The outlier of the warthog with 5.83 kg prey mass consumed to excrete one collectable scat (Table 1) was excluded from the analysis and figure.
Table 2.
Application of correction factor 1 (CF1, y = 2.358(1-exp(−0.075x)) with x = Q1 and y = Q5) and correction factor 2 (CF2, y = 3.094exp(−0.5(ln(x/16.370)/2.584)2) with x = Q1 and y = Q4) derived from the cheetah feeding experiments from this study to a hypothetical example of 100 collectable scats based on a regular sampling scheme, i.e. collected scats were dependent objects.
Figure 3.
Mean number of collectable scats excreted per cheetah and prey animal (Q4) as a function of mean prey body mass (kg) provided per feeding experiment (Q1). The curve represents CF2 and follows the peak logarithmic normal function y = 3.094exp(−0.5(ln(x/16.370)/2.584)2). The outlier of the warthog with a mean of 1.00 collectable scats per cheetah and prey animal (Table 1) was excluded from the analysis and figure.
Table 3.
Determination of the consumed number of prey individuals in a hypothetical example of 100 collectable scats based on CF1 and CF2 derived from the cheetah feeding experiment of this study.