Namibian Cheetah conservation strategy
The cheetah is probably the most specialized member of the cat family, in terms of both physiology and behavior. The cheetah has an extraordinary lack of genetic variation in comparison to other animals, but the conservation consequences of this are not clear. The cheetah is an arid-adapted cat which appears to have evolved to follow migrating antelope herds. The cheetah has very large home ranges in comparison to other cats, and its mating system is also different. The cheetah's use of large, prominent 'play trees' for intraspecific communication and finding mates has made it vulnerable to trapping. Farmers set box traps near these trees. While the cheetah is roughly of the same vulnerability status as the lion, according to the IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group's Cat Action Plan, its situation is very much different. The lion's stronghold is the protected area network of Africa, but cheetahs tend to occur at low densities where lion numbers are high, so that conservation of cheetah outside protected areas is of key importance to conserving viable populations of the species.
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Nowell_1996_Namibia_cheetah_conservation_strategy.pdf | 1.3 MB |