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After living in a 50 ha camp at the Amani Lodge near Windhoek for the past 3 years, five 6-year-old male cheetahs — Ra, Kia, Mushara, Lindt and Cadbury — were released into the wild at the NamibRand Nature Reserve in the south west of Namibia boarding the Namib-Naukluft Park late July, following a long year of crucial planning.

Photo CCF

Prior to their transport to NamibRand, the cheetahs were anaesthetized at Amani Lodge for sample collections including blood for overall health, genetics, and sperm samples, and outfitted with radio collars which will be followed closely using satellite radio-telemetry technology under the direction of the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) research staff.

They were then set free for a ’soft release’ to go out on their own into the wild on July 29th from their 2 hectare holding pen they were held in for 10 days during testing.

“Re-introductions are not simple.” said Dr. Laurie Marker, CCF’s Executive Director. “It’s very important to closely monitor the behaviors of the individual cats to ensure their health and adaptation to their new environment.”

The project was the resourceful vision of the CCF which worked closely with NamibRand and the Ministry of Environment and Tourism to plan this release — the first time a structured re-introduction has been attempted in the area, and the third project that the CCF has been heavily involved in for re-introductions.

Previous attempts to re-introduce cheetahs into the area have not been successful due to various reasons including unsuitable animals and the lack of an intensive, long-term monitoring program.

“There is not a lot of suitable habitat due to the extent of land under livestock production and habituated cheetahs need large uninhabited areas.” Dr. Laurie Marker said.

“NamibRand is ideally suited for this long-term re-introduction project.”

Cheetahs feeding on a springbok carcass on arrival at their temporary holding camp
at NamibRand Nature Reserve. Photo CCF

Dr.’s Laurie Marker (closest), Axel Hartman and Anne Schmidt-Kunzel conducting
health checks on cheetah before transport to NamibRand. Photo CCF

Dr. Laurie Marker from Cheetah Conservation Fund and Olivier Houalet from Amani Lodge
release one of the cheetahs into their new temporary camp. Photo CCF

Having lived in a large camp, these cheetahs have been successful in hunting game previously and it’s expected that they will successfully adapt to their new environment as they’re habituated and will allow access to tracking.

Cheetahs had roamed the wild in this area up until 30 years ago, when livestock farming practices eliminated them. The NamibRand Nature Reserve strives to restore the balance of the natural ecosystem in this region, and through their efforts, game populations have increased substantially, providing adequate prey for cheetahs.

“We are thrilled to finally be able to release cheetah on the Reserve, as it has been an ambition of ours for several years to restore cheetah to the area, creating a holistic ecosystem.” said Nils Odendaal, CEO of NamibRand Nature Reserve.

CCF provides medical assistance to ailing cheetah and nurses them until they’re able to be reintroduced into the wild. A 300 acre expanse has also been acquired for use as a miniature Serengetti which is used as an observation post for the hundreds of game that graze there.

The human population of the world is continuing to grow, while the once vast land ranges of Africa are shrinking. At the current rate of human expansion, the cheetah will become extinct in the wild in approximately 15 years.

But this travesty can be avoided through the use of several proven techniques that are capable of allowing humans and cheetah to coexist in Africa, requiring the active participation of all involved parties.

Visit the Cheetah Conservation Fund’s website to learn more.

Photo Irene 2005

Photo Irene 2005

Photo Irene 2005

Cheetah Extinction
Cheetahs once vastly covered the landscape of Africa and Asia, but today they’re one of the most endangered of large cats, all but extinct in Asia, and on the verge of extinction in Africa. Losses of habitat, commercial farming, and development have all but eradicated these animals.

Photo Digital ART2

At the turn of the 20th century the cheetah population was 100,000. By 1980 it was reduced to 25,000, and currently there are fewer than 12,000 cheetah. Namibia has the largest cheetah population in the world, where they have been reduced from 6,000 animals in 1980 to less than 2,500.

Even conservation efforts are not sustainable at the current rate of decline. As the states of Africa continue to modernize, many lands that compose the cheetah’s habitat range are being converted into farmlands and cattle ranches.

The current expanse of national parks in Southern Africa are helping to alleviate some of these problems, but the range of parks such as Kruger National Park, Etosha Nation Park, Hwange National Park, and Chobe National Park is not enough to maintain a stable population of cheetah in the wild. Several sanctuaries in Africa have become surrounded on all sides by human development.

The long term survival of the cheetah depends upon the reconciliation of habitat destruction and poaching.

Should a feline disease spread among the cheetah, it could possibly wipe out the entire population.

Cheetahs are protected by the CITES treaty, but African states still allow for the indiscriminate hunting on private farmlands, and measures of protection by law are rarely enforced. If the cheetah is continually hunted at its current rate by the farmers and ranchers of Africa it will become extinct within the next decade.

Photo Suneko

Photo Lukas Kaffer

Photo Mila Zinkova

About Cheetahs
The cheetah is the smallest of the large cats, bearing a course tan coat with round black spots with a small head, high set eyes, tiny ears, distinctive “tear” stripes down the sides of the nose to keep sunlight out of its eyes and aid in hunting and seeing long distances, combined with a slender, long legged body with a deep chest and narrow waist. There are no spots on their white underside, but the tail has spots which merge to form 4 to 6 dark rings at the end, culminating in a bushy white tuft.

Some cheetahs have a rare fur pattern mutation such as the ‘king cheetah’ with larger, blotchy, merged spots. It was once thought to be a separate subspecies, but was found to be a mutation of the African cheetah. The ‘king cheetah’ has only been seen in the wild a handful of times, but it has been bred in captivity.

Adult cheetahs can weigh from 88 to 140 pounds (40 to 65 kilos), with a total body length from 45 to 53 inches (115 to 135 centimeters), while the tail can measure up to 33 inches (84 centimeters) in length. Males tend to be slightly larger than females and have slightly larger heads, but there is not a great variation in cheetah sizes which makes it difficult to tell males and females apart by appearance alone.

Cheetahs have semi-retractable claws (known only in 3 other cat species) affording them extra grip in high-speed pursuits. The ligament structure of the claws is the same as those of other cats — it simply lacks the sheath of skin and fur present in other varieties, and therefore the claws are always visible, with the exception of the dewclaw.

The cheetah is a vulnerable species, being the least able to adapt to new environments out of all the big cats. It has always proven difficult to breed in captivity, although recently a few zoos have managed to succeed.

Photo Digital ART2

Photo James Temple

Photo James Temple

Vocalizations
Unlike “true” big cats, the cheetah can purr as it inhales, but cannot roar, whereas the big cats can roar but cannot purr, except while exhaling. Its vocalizations include:

• Chirping — when cheetahs attempt to find each other or a mother tries to locate her cubs, it uses a high-pitched barking called chirping. The chirps made by a cheetah cub sound more like a bird chirping, and so are termed chirping.

• Churring or stuttering — emitted during social meetings. A churr can be seen as a social invitation to other cheetahs, an expression of interest, uncertainty, or appeasement or during meetings with the opposite sex (although each sex churrs for different reasons).

• Growling — often accompanied by hissing and spitting and is exhibited by the cheetah during annoyance, or when faced with danger.

• Yowling — an escalated version of growling, usually displayed when danger worsens.

• Purring — made when the cheetah is content, usually during pleasant social meetings (mostly between cubs and their mothers).

The King Cheetah has a recessive fur pattern mutation. First discovered in Zimbabwe in 1926,
this very rare animal has been seen in the wild only 6 times. Photo Jurveston

King Cheetah. Photo Jurveston

Photo MyAngelG

Hunting
These creatures are genetic hunters mainly preying upon small antelope that roam the plains of Africa, but they’re being forced out of their natural range by human development to find new sources of food, often resulting in attacks on small livestock. They will not attempt to attack full size livestock due to their small size, and are easily frightened off by bull adults and cattle dogs.

They are carnivores, eating mostly mammals under 88 pounds (40 kilos). The young of larger mammals such as wildebeests and zebras are taken at times, and even adults when the cats hunt in groups.

Cheetahs look for individuals which have strayed some distance from their group, and do not necessarily seek out old or weak ones.

Their flexible spine, oversized liver, enlarged heart and lungs, large nostrils that allow for increased oxygen intake, muscular body, non-retractable claws, and stabilizing tail make the cheetah the swiftest hunter in Africa and the fastest land mammal, capable of speeds up to 75 mph (120 km/h) and can maintain this speed over an average chase of 3.5 miles. At full speed the cheetah can cover a distance of 25 feet (8 meters) in a single stride.

During a typical chase its respiratory rate increases from 60 to 150 breaths per minute. While running, the cheetah uses its tail as a rudder-like means of steering to allow it to make sharp turns, necessary to outflank prey that often make such turns to escape.

While the other big cats mainly hunt by night, the cheetah is a diurnal hunter, usually either early in the morning or later in the evening when it’s not so hot, while there is still enough light.

The cheetah hunts by vision rather than scent. Prey is stalked to within 33 to 98 feet (10 to 30 meters), and then chased. The hunt is usually over in less than a minute, and if the cheetah fails to make a catch quickly, it will give up, with half of its chases resulting in failure.

Running at speeds up to 75 mph puts a great deal of strain on the cheetah’s body. Their body temperature becomes so high during sprinting that it would be deadly to continue. They often need to rest after catching their prey, sometimes requiring half an hour or more.

The cheetah kills its prey by tripping it during the chase, then biting it on the underside of the throat to suffocate it, or to puncture a vital artery in the neck. They devour their catch as quickly as possible before the kill is taken by stronger predators.

As predators themselves, adult cheetahs have little to fear from other predators, but the cubs are frequently subject to attack by the larger cats such as lions and spotted hyena.

Photo Mara 1

Photo F Svehla

Photo James Temple

Origins
Cheetahs originated more than 4 million years ago, as the oldest feline of the 37 different species of cats. The cheetah had its origins in the North American region of Texas, Nevada, and Wyoming, and was once common throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe. But about 10,000 years ago, all the cheetah in North America, Europe, and most of those in Asia and Africa perished with the onset of the last Ice Age.

The present day population of cheetahs is derived from inbreeding by those very few surviving populations and closely related animals. While suffering from a lack of genetic diversity, the genes it does have produced one of the most efficient species of cats ever to exist.

Sources: Wildlife Direct, American Ed, and Wikipedia

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Tags:animal animals cheetah Cheetahs conservation extinct extinction rare

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