Choose any species of your interest. Research and discuss its life history. Based on your findings, what type of survivorship curve (type I, II, or III) do you think the species has? Explain your answer. I chose to discuss the life history of the cheetahs on the Serengeti plains of Tanzania.

In the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, female cheetahs occupy larger areas and the males are usually found in small territories. A trait in the life history of the male cheetahs is that they compete fiercely for their territories. However, the males do not survive as long as the females. Cheetah cubs have a high mortality rate because most of them fall prey to predator lions. During their life span, adolescent cheetahs live in temporary sibling groups. These cheetahs survive longer than the ones that are single offspring. After leaving their mother, adolescent male and female cheetahs stay in a group for about six months. After a period of six months, the females leave the group, and the males stay together. Female cheetahs prefer to live alone or with their cubs. The males prefer to live alone or with two or three other cheetahs.

Based on the life history of cheetahs, I think they would have a type II life history curve. They are not type I like humans because many cheetah cubs are killed and don’t survive to adulthood. They are not type III like sea turtles and oysters, because cheetah cubs are protected by their mothers, and adolescent cheetahs live in groups for protection, so more than a tiny fraction of cheetahs survive to adulthood.