Snapshot Serengeti Talk

Cheetah?

  • horkusone by horkusone

    Does anyone else think this could possibly be a cheetah in this tree? I have looked at so many times that I no longer have any reasonable perspective. Definitely something there but what?

    ASG000omav

    Posted

  • areinders by areinders moderator

    You are right there is something, it is a bird, can't tell what species. A cheetah would be way to big to sit in those small branches.

    Posted

  • bristletail by bristletail

    I'm not really seeing it. If there is a cat up there I think it would more likely be a leopard, they like to drag their kills up there. Though it isn't unheard of for a cheetah to climb a tree.

    Posted

  • horkusone by horkusone

    You are right about the weight versus the thin branches. It just seemed to be longer and broader than just a bird but you are probably right.

    I must have been misinformed at some point because I thought I read about cheetahs also dragging kills into trees. What I heard was that after a good sprint, they are exhausted and have little means of protecting their kill from other predators while they recuperate. Maybe I just heard wrong and it is, in fact, mostly leopards. Either way, it is still driving me bonkers!

    Thanks for the input!

    Posted

  • areinders by areinders moderator

    Just to add one more piece of information to maybe help with the dimensions/sizes of things. There is an image originally posted in the bird section of discussions that shows red-billed hornbills in a tree:
    red-billed hornbills

    I think the dimensions are pretty similar to the image above.

    Posted

  • davidbygott by davidbygott moderator

    Looks like small bird, yes. Leopards are the treeclimbers - cheetah have blunt non-retractile claws like dogs and don't climb at all well, definitely never with a kill - they try not to draw attention to their kills.

    Posted