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Study

Cheetahs do not abandon hunts because they overheat

Hetem, Robyn S.; Mitchell, Duncan; de Witt, Brenda A.; Fick, Linda G.; Meyer, Leith C. R.; Maloney, Shane K.; Fuller, Andrea

Biology Letters, 2013

Peer-reviewedfield experimentwild

What they did

Implanted temperature-sensitive data loggers in free-living cheetahs and recorded body temperature continuously through successful and unsuccessful hunts, testing the long-standing claim that hunts are abandoned once body temperature rises past a threshold.

Studied in
Acinonyx jubatus
Sample size
free-living cheetahs with implanted temperature loggers

What they found

Body temperature rose only modestly during hunting and did not reach the levels the overheating hypothesis requires. The larger temperature rise occurred *after* a successful hunt rather than during the chase, and unsuccessful hunts were not associated with higher temperatures.

What it means

The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.

How the authors put it

Cheetahs do not stop hunting because they overheat. The post-hunt rise appears to be a stress response associated with feeding and the risk of losing the kill.

How NatureHQ reads it

A textbook claim tested directly and not supported. The detail that makes it a good story is the reversal: the temperature rise is real, and it happens after the hunt succeeds rather than during it — which is why the original inference from post-hunt measurements looked convincing.

Limitations

  • A small number of animals, which is unavoidable for an implanted-logger study in a threatened species.
  • Ambient conditions in this population may not represent the hottest parts of the range.

The experiment, explained

  • Measuring the temperature the story was about

    Cheetahs were said to break off hunts because they overheat, on the strength of two captive animals stopping on a treadmill. Does body temperature actually rise that far during a real hunt?

What this study is used for on NatureHQ

One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.

Finding the paper

Published by: The Royal SocietyPublished by the Royal Society.

doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0472

Checked against Crossref on 2026-09-28, and they agree on the title, the authors and the year.

NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-09-03.