Cheetah Fecal Microbiota Degradation Over Time Post Defecation
We performed an experiment to determine the terminal collection timepoint for fecal microbial studies in the cheetah. We sampled eight freshly deposited fecals every 24 hours for 5 days and assessed microbial relative abundance, diversity, and composition changes over time. We show that fecal samples up to 24 hours post-defecation are still accurate representations of the fresh fecal microbiome. After 24 hours, major changes in community composition occur and individual cheetah signatures are lost while the microbial community becomes more similar to the environment.