New research prompts rethink on Cheetah


PRETORIA — Conventional cheetah-conservation methods need to be abandoned and extreme measures taken to save the species, the National Research Foundation said on Wednesday.

The conclusion follows new research on cheetah populations in Africa and Asia by the National Zoological Gardens (NZG) in Pretoria, which point to a complete rethink of the approach to ensuring the survival of the big cats.

“One of the most startling discoveries we made was that, contrary to conventional wisdom which maintains that cheetahs are generally in-bred, they are far more diverse as a species than originally thought,” said Professor Antoinette Kotze, manager for research and scientific services at the NZG.

Not only are African cheetahs from various regions distinct from one another, but also more importantly, the Asiatic cheetah found in Iran was a distinct sub-species from the African variety.

The Iranian cheetah was believed to be on the brink of extinction, with an estimated 110 remaining.

Emphasising the urgent need to prevent the extinction of the species, Kotze indicated the Iranian government had renewed its commitment to a major conservation effort.

“The next few years are critical. We need to completely rethink our approach to cheetah conservation worldwide,” she said.

The aim of the five-year project, was to confirm whether the cheetah as a species maintained a low level of genetic variation.

The study was done in conjunction with researchers from the University of Vienna, the French National Research Centre and the Portuguese Science Foundation.

Kotze said the research project was a “long and arduous process” as it entailed gathering DNA samples of living animals in the wild, in zoos and from museum specimens from all over the world.

— Sapa.

I would think this is a good thing. The natural variation in the species is still present. The lack of variation tends to indicate that a species is in decline (from my rusty university days of game management classes and biodiversity lectures...)

I would think that this would tend to indicate that we are as a whole doing well with the cheetah (at least in some respects).

I would note that when I was in Zimbabwe, I could have shot Cheetah for lower TF than Lion or Leopard (entirely due to the fact that the US does not allow importation of Cheetah trophies, and there is less demand.)

Nevertheless, the cat has value in that it is worth a couple of thousand dollars. Contrast that to the African wild dog that everyone despised and felt was a nuisance, and other than eating game that had value, didn't think it was really that worth conserving. (this from both PH's and local black tribesmen... the local lodge game viewers thought they were great, but they didn't compensate the poor villager who's goats were being killed.)

You are 100% right about the cheetah and the wild dogs.

There should be a good sized trophy fee put on the dogs, as well as the cheetah, and USFWS should allow importation of both species.

If it pays, it stays.