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.

Correction factors 1 (CF1) and 2 (CF2) were determined by fitting (1) an exponential regression to consumed prey mass per collectable scat (Q5) as a function of mean prey body mass provided per feeding experiment (Q1) ( = CF1) and (2) a peak logarithmic normal function to the number of excreted collectable scats (Q4) as a function of mean prey body mass provided per feeding experiment (Q1) ( = CF2). For details see text. a 14 mice and gerbils with a total weight of 1.49 kg were eaten entirely, the remaining 66 with a total weight of 2.74 kg were rejected. Calculations were based on the consumed mice and gerbils. b each cheetah fed from five subsequently provided squirrels. c–f mean kg of collectable scats per cheetah are based on mean weights of six, seven, seven and four collectable scats, respectively, multiplied by the number of collectable scats per cheetah.