thesis sentence about cheetahs

Essay on Cheetah

Students are often asked to write an essay on Cheetah in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Cheetah

The cheetah: a speedy marvel.

Cheetahs are the world’s fastest land animals. They live in Africa’s grasslands and are known for their slender bodies and spotted coats.

Speed and Hunting

Threats to cheetahs.

Sadly, cheetahs face many threats. Habitat loss and illegal wildlife trade are major concerns. Efforts are ongoing to protect these amazing creatures and their habitats.

Also check:

250 Words Essay on Cheetah

The majestic cheetah: an overview.

The cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus, a member of the Felidae family, is renowned for its incredible speed, reaching up to 60-70 miles per hour in short bursts. This speed, combined with its agility, makes it a formidable predator in the wild, primarily in Africa’s grasslands.

Adaptations for Speed

The cheetah’s slender, lightweight body and long legs are perfectly designed for speed. Its large nasal passages enable quick oxygen intake, while the adrenal gland produces adrenaline to fuel its explosive sprints. Interestingly, the cheetah’s claws are semi-retractable, providing additional grip, akin to a runner’s spikes.

Endangered Status

Sadly, the cheetah is currently classified as a vulnerable species. Their numbers have dwindled due to habitat loss, human-wildlife conflict, and illegal wildlife trade. Efforts to conserve these magnificent creatures are ongoing, with initiatives focused on habitat preservation and community education.

Ecological Importance

As apex predators, cheetahs play a crucial role in maintaining the balance of their ecosystems. They control the population of their prey, preventing overgrazing and promoting biodiversity. Their decline could disrupt these delicate systems, underscoring the importance of their conservation.

The Cheetah’s Future

The future of the cheetah lies in the hands of conservationists and the wider human population. Through concerted efforts to protect their habitats and combat illegal trade, there is hope for the survival of this remarkable species. The cheetah’s story is a poignant reminder of our shared responsibility to protect Earth’s biodiversity.

500 Words Essay on Cheetah

Introduction.

The cheetah, scientifically known as Acinonyx jubatus, is an iconic species primarily recognized for its exceptional speed. As the fastest land mammal, the cheetah serves as a symbol of agility and grace. However, beyond their speed, cheetahs are fascinating creatures with unique biology, behavior, and ecological significance.

Physical Attributes and Adaptations

Cheetahs are slender-bodied animals, designed for speed. They weigh between 75-150 pounds, with a body length of up to 4.5 feet and a tail length of up to 33 inches. Their coats are typically a yellowish-tan or rufous to greyish white, with black spots. The most striking feature is the ‘tear mark’ running from the inner corner of each eye down to the sides of the mouth.

Their physical adaptations are specifically tailored for speed. The large nostrils and adrenal glands facilitate rapid oxygen intake and adrenaline production, respectively. The lightweight frame and long, flexible spine enable them to stretch their bodies while running at high speeds. The non-retractable claws provide grip, and the specialized pads act like tire treads for traction.

Behavior and Lifestyle

Cheetahs are diurnal animals, hunting primarily during the day to avoid competition with nocturnal predators like lions and hyenas. Their hunting strategy is a blend of stealth and speed; they use their excellent eyesight to spot prey from a distance, stalk them, and then unleash their explosive speed in a final sprint.

Reproduction and Lifespan

The lifespan of cheetahs in the wild is typically 10-12 years, although in captivity, they can live up to 20 years. However, cub mortality is high due to predation and disease.

Conservation Status and Threats

Cheetahs are remarkable creatures, embodying a perfect blend of power and grace. Their unique adaptations make them a fascinating subject of study. However, their declining numbers highlight the urgent need for effective conservation strategies. Understanding and appreciating these majestic animals is the first step towards ensuring their survival and the health of the ecosystems they inhabit.

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Open Access is an initiative that aims to make scientific research freely available to all. To date our community has made over 100 million downloads. It’s based on principles of collaboration, unobstructed discovery, and, most importantly, scientific progression. As PhD students, we found it difficult to access the research we needed, so we decided to create a new Open Access publisher that levels the playing field for scientists across the world. How? By making research easy to access, and puts the academic needs of the researchers before the business interests of publishers.

We are a community of more than 103,000 authors and editors from 3,291 institutions spanning 160 countries, including Nobel Prize winners and some of the world’s most-cited researchers. Publishing on IntechOpen allows authors to earn citations and find new collaborators, meaning more people see your work not only from your own field of study, but from other related fields too.

Brief introduction to this section that descibes Open Access especially from an IntechOpen perspective

Want to get in touch? Contact our London head office or media team here

Our team is growing all the time, so we’re always on the lookout for smart people who want to help us reshape the world of scientific publishing.

Home > Books > Wildlife Population Monitoring

Cheetahs Race for Survival: Ecology and Conservation

Submitted: 05 October 2018 Reviewed: 26 October 2018 Published: 15 May 2019

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.82255

Cite this chapter

There are two ways to cite this chapter:

From the Edited Volume

Wildlife Population Monitoring

Edited by Marco Ferretti

To purchase hard copies of this book, please contact the representative in India: CBS Publishers & Distributors Pvt. Ltd. www.cbspd.com | [email protected]

Chapter metrics overview

1,539 Chapter Downloads

Impact of this chapter

Total Chapter Downloads on intechopen.com

Total Chapter Views on intechopen.com

Overall attention for this chapters

Cheetahs reach speeds of up to 113 km/h accelerating from zero to 96 km/h in 3s. Revered for 5000 years throughout Asia, Europe and Africa has contributed to the species decline. Today’s wild cheetah population is estimated at 7100 adult and adolescents, a 90% reduction from a century ago, and a range reduction of 9%. Over 80% live outside protected areas where human-wildlife conflict occurs. Female cheetahs live solitarily with their cubs; male cubs form lifelong coalitions. Living in low densities cheetahs’ home ranges cover over 1500 km2, requiring large landscapes with prey. Although cheetahs’ lack genetic diversity from a historic population bottleneck, their greatest conservation problems are humans. Habitat loss and declining preybase leads to conflict with livestock farmers. Additionally, illegal wildlife trafficking of cubs is affecting small populations in the Horn of Africa. Solving the cheetah conservation crisis is critical and involves addressing a complex web of social, environmental and economic issues, and depends on a holistic approach balancing the needs of humans and cheetahs sharing land. Research into conserving and restoring habitat for cheetahs includes training, the use of Livestock Guarding Dogs, and other conflict mitigation strategies, addressing habitat loss, dismantling the illegal pet trade, and encouraging coexistence.

• protected areas
• livelihood development
• conservancies
• illegal wildlife trade

Author Information

Laurie marker *.

• Cheetah Conservation Fund, Otjiwarongo, Namibia

*Address all correspondence to: [email protected]

1. Introduction

The cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus , is one of the oldest big cat species, with ancestors that can be traced back more than five million years to the Middle Pliocene era [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. The cheetah is also the world’s fastest land mammal, an icon of nature, and the most unique of the 41 species of cats [ 4 ]. The hunting style of the cheetah—to swiftly pursue prey over a moderate distance—necessitates some morphological and physiological specializations for both prey-killing and locomotion [ 5 ].

As an animal built for speed, all parts of its body have evolved for precision and agility. Because of its small, aerodynamic head, lean body, long legs, flexible backbone and tail that works like a boat’s rudder, the cheetah can change direction in a split second and reach speeds of up to 113 km/h while turning 180° [ 6 , 7 , 8 ]. With each stride, the cheetah covers 6 m with just one foot touching the ground at a time; at two points in the stride, all four feet are in the air. The cheetah’s flexible spine acts like a spring as it doubles up with feet under its body to clench the earth with powerful, semi-non-retractable claws, thrusting it forward with great speed and maximum distance. The cheetah is not only the fastest running land mammal; it is also known for its rapid acceleration, as it can go from zero to 96 km/h in just 3 s [ 6 ].

With less than 7100 adults and adolescents remaining [ 9 ], the cheetah is one of the most endangered big cat species. Cheetah numbers have declined primarily due to increased human-wildlife conflict, loss of habitat and loss of prey, and the illegal wildlife trade. In addition to these threats, cheetahs lack genetic variation due to a historic population bottleneck, approximately 12,000 years ago, which makes the cheetah more vulnerable to ecological and environmental changes [ 10 , 11 , 12 ].

Today, nearly 80% of the remaining world’s cheetahs are found outside of protected areas living near rural livestock farming communities [ 9 ]. Protected areas, such as wildlife reserves or national parks typically have higher densities of larger or more aggressive predator species that can outcompete cheetahs, making it difficult for cheetahs to survive. Despite being one of the best hunter species on the savanna, cheetahs often lose their kills to larger predators. In protected areas, cheetahs have been found to lose 10–15% of their kills to lions ( Panthera leo ), leopards ( Panthera pardus ), jackals ( Canis aureus ), and hyenas ( Hyaenidae ) [ 13 , 14 ]. In addition to hunting pressures, cheetahs face direct threats by larger carnivores that may try to kill an adult cheetah or its young, to reduce competition for prey and territory [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ].

Living outside protected areas prevents threats by other predators but puts the cheetah in direct conflict with commercial and subsistence livestock farmers [ 18 , 19 ]. These farmers often perceive cheetahs to be a threat to their livestock, which leads into economic and emotional issues. The Rangewide Cheetah and Wild Dog program, an IUCN Cat Specialist endorsed program, brings together conservation organizations across the cheetah’s range to work on a more sustainable future for cheetahs and farmers. Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), Cheetah Conservation Botswana (CCB), and the Ruaha Carnivore Project work with other stakeholders, such as community members, local and national governments, conservancies and scientists to develop and implement action plans for cheetah conservation throughout its range [ 9 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ].

As human populations grow, so do the chances of conflict with cheetahs. Simultaneously, available rangeland will shrink, along with the wild prey base, hastening the decline of the cheetah [ 24 , 25 ]. If the observed trends of decline among cheetah population continues, the world’s fastest land mammal could become extinct within the next 15–20 years [ 26 ].

2. Cheetah distribution

The cheetah was once one of the most widely distributed of all land animals. Through the course of time the cheetah was found from North America to China, throughout Asia, India, Europe, and Africa. About 20,000 years ago, it settled into its current range [ 3 , 27 ].

A century ago, approximately 100,000 cheetahs were found in at least 44 countries throughout Africa and Asia. Today, the current free-ranging populations of cheetahs are restricted to 10% of their former range, found only in small, fragmented areas spread across 23 countries in Africa (in North Africa, the Sahel, East Africa and southern Africa), however, two thirds of these countries’ cheetah populations number less than 200 individuals [ 9 , 28 ]. It is estimated that fewer 50 wild cheetahs remaining in Iran, the last of the Asiatic population [ 9 , 29 ].

Today, viable populations may be found in less than half the countries where cheetahs still exist. Cheetahs are particularly difficult to census due to their large home ranges, which average more than 1500 km 2 [ 14 , 30 , 31 , 32 ], and their shy nature, an instinct that has been reinforced because of persecution on farmlands, where they are shot, trapped and chased [ 19 , 22 , 33 , 34 ]. As a result of persecution and due to their naturally large home ranges, wherever they live they occur in low densities [ 34 ].

All populations of cheetahs are listed on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix 1 and are classified as Vulnerable or Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) [ 35 ]. All cheetah populations are threatened due to habitat reduction and declines in prey populations, which bring them into increased contact (and ultimately conflict) with farmers and livestock [ 14 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 33 ].

Due to its declining numbers and genetic lack of diversity, it is important to protect remaining wild cheetah populations to ensure the species chances for survival. An evaluation of conservation priorities in each country where the cheetah is found has been conducted to better understand the issues involved in achieving this goal [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 33 , 36 ]. The remaining strongholds for cheetahs are Namibia and Botswana, in southern Africa; and Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa (see Figure 1 ). With approximately 20% of the world’s remaining wild cheetahs and successful efforts to conserve its wild population, Namibia is popularly known as “The Cheetah Capital of the World.”

Historic and current: cheetah range map [ 28 ].

As a result of habitat fragmentation over time, there are currently four genetically confirmed subspecies of cheetah, three African and one Asiatic subspecies [ 4 , 12 , 37 ]. These subspecies are physically distinct from one another, and research is still ongoing to determine the genetic uniqueness of each. One previously-accepted subspecies, the Northeastern African Cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus raineyii, which was found in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, was determined in 2017 to be a conspecific of A.j. jubatus in 2017 and reclassified as such [ 4 ]. The currently classified subspecies of cheetah are as follows:

2.1. Asiatic cheetah

Acinonyx jubatus venaticus originally found throughout Asia in Afghanistan, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Russia [ 38 ], but now there are approximately 50 remaining in a small, fragmented populations in Iran [ 29 ]. These cheetahs have denser fur and what appears to be a mane, which is actually extra tufts of hair on their neck and shoulder blades. This thicker coat keeps them warm in the cooler nighttime temperatures of their environment.

2.2. Northwestern African or Saharan cheetah

Acinonyx jubatus hecki , historically found in Northwest Africa in Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Niger, Mauritania, Mali and in some western African countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Ghana [ 38 ]. Today, small populations remain in Algeria, Niger, Benin, and Burkina Faso [ 28 ]. Most are in the central western region of the Saharan desert and the Sahel. Unique in appearance, this subspecies in critically endangered with only approximately 250 individuals remaining. Saharan cheetahs are extremely pale, almost white in color. Their coloring provides them with a natural defense against detection in the desert environment. Sometimes there are no spots on its face and its tear marks appear to be missing. In general, they are smaller than the other subspecies. This may be a product of their desert environment, where there is less prey for them to hunt.

2.3. Eastern African or Sudan cheetah

Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii , was historically found in Sudan, Djibouti, Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Ethiopia and Somalia [ 38 ]. Today, small populations are in Chad Ethiopia, Somali, Somaliland, and South Sudan [ 28 ]. This subspecies is the richly colored.

2.4. Southern African cheetah

Acinonyx jubatus jubatus , originally found throughout Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Zambia, Angola, Mozambique, Malawi, and Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe [ 38 ]. Today, over 50% of the remaining cheetahs are found in Namibia and Botswana, with small populations in Angola, South Africa Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe [ 28 ], and the new classification of those from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda [ 4 ]. They have large home ranges that can encompass hundreds of square kilometers.

3. Cheetah behavior

Cheetahs have evolved for speed and are not built to fight other predators. Because of this, they are shy in nature and will often abandon their kills in the presence of more robust predators, such as lions, leopards and hyenas [ 14 , 39 ]. To combat this, cheetahs are typically diurnal hunters, as opposed to other large predator species, such as lions, hyena, and leopards, which are nocturnal [ 39 , 40 ]. Their lack of defense against these predators has led to 80% of the current cheetah range being on farmland habitat [ 28 , 41 ].

Female cheetahs live solitary lives and do not form coalitions. After a 93 to 95-day gestation, solitary female cheetahs give birth to two to six cubs, with 3.5 being the average litter [ 13 , 28 , 42 ]. Cubs stay in the den for the first 6 weeks, with females moving their cubs to different nest sites for protection [ 39 , 43 ].

At 6 weeks of age, the cubs leave the den and follow their mother. At first, cubs will stay hidden while their mother begins to stalk prey. While the cubs are on their own, they may chase after inappropriate prey animals, such as jackals or birds [ 13 ]. To teach them how to catch appropriate prey, their mother will capture and release prey for the cubs to play with to practice their hunting skills [ 13 ]. The cubs will begin to chase the prey and trip it before the mother eventually comes and kills it for them [ 43 ]. Cubs start initiating their own hunts at about 1 year of age but are not proficient until they are independent [ 13 ]. Cubs stay with their mother for about 18–22 months. Even after they become independent, it can take cubs up to 3.5 years to master hunting [ 13 ]. Female cubs establish their home ranges within their mother’s larger home range, so there is familiarity among female cheetahs that are related [ 44 ].

Once the young males disperse they will not maintain a territory until they are 4–5 years of age [ 13 , 18 ]. Male cheetahs remain with their other male siblings from birth, forming a coalition for life. This behavior increases hunting success and is a defense against predators. By sticking together, they can hold and defend a better territory, where wildlife prey is abundant [ 39 ]. This also increases the chances of a greater number of desirable females coming into the territory for breeding.

Members of a coalition are very bonded to one another. If separated, they do a lot of vocalizations. Cheetahs have a variety of unusual vocalizations including a dog-like bark and a bird-like chirp for calling between each other [ 13 , 39 ]. Other sounds they make include a bubble or “uhun” sound, a hiss, and a growl. They are also very affectionate to each other. They purr and lick each other’s faces. Male coalitions work together when hunting and are able to hunt larger prey together. Cheetah coalitions are very stable, and the bond of brotherhood is permanent.

4. Cheetah ecology

Cheetahs require vast expanses of land with prey and other resources [ 9 , 45 ]. Research in Namibia shows that cheetahs have an average home range of 1500 km 2 with individuals covering 20–40 km in a week, but live in low densities throughout their range [ 14 , 39 , 45 , 46 ]. Most cheetahs live in open grasslands and savanna, which are arid environments [ 35 ]. Throughout the cheetahs range, cheetahs are known to use tall trees for greater visualization as well as territorial markings. In Namibia, these trees have been called “playtrees,” as cubs are often seen climbing into them, or “newspaper tree,” as male cheetahs use these trees for leaving their territorial scent marks, urine and feces [ 14 , 47 ]. However, in many ecosystems throughout the cheetah ranges, bush encroachment, a form of desertification caused by overgrazing arid landscapes as well as the decline of many of the large mega-herbivores, has caused a problem for cheetah hunting ability as well as altering the mix of wildlife [ 47 ]. Bush encroachment results in the prolific growth of a native plant species, Senegalia sp., commonly known as thornbush [ 47 ]. On traditionally open savanna lands where cheetahs hunt using their natural advantage, speed, bush encroachment changes the landscape. Increased bush limits the cheetahs’ vision and speed, which lowers their hunting success, ultimately altering the mix of wildlife [ 47 , 48 ]. Decreased vision does not just hinder their hunts, as cheetahs are also more likely to consider livestock as prey over wildlife, becoming a problem animal to farmers and increasing conflict [ 49 ]. Throughout Africa, cheetahs are known to frequent certain trees [ 14 , 47 ].

Changes in the arid ecosystems in favor of human needs have also created problems, mainly from overgrazing of livestock leading to desertification, leaving limited grazing for wildlife. Further compounding this issue, forces of nature that are unpredictable and difficult to manage such as climate change, negatively affect agriculture and wildlife as rangelands become drier and vegetation is altered [ 50 ]. This also affects distribution and abundance of prey [ 14 , 45 ]. And, as the human population grows, air and water become more polluted, habitat is lost to development, and the climate crisis deepens. Ultimately, the cheetah’s chances for survival depend greatly on the re-balancing of the ecosystem and the restoration of habitat so it will support sufficient natural prey [ 26 ].

Learning to hunt is the most critical survival skill that the cubs must develop [ 13 ]. At 1-year-old cubs are participating in hunts and the mother, while assuring enough kills for the family’s survival, will allow the cubs to join in. Cheetahs hunt in the early morning and early evening and capture their prey by stalking to within 10–30 yards or as far as 80 yards before beginning the chase [ 13 ]. During a hunt, cheetahs usually catch their prey after an average 200-yard sprint [ 13 ]. Although fast, their ability to accelerate at a high speed is most critical, and their maneuverability enabling them to turn rapidly is more important than their speed. Most hunts take place at a slower speed, as prey are dodging in efforts to flee [ 39 ]. Successful hunters need not only speed but stealth as well. They move slowly and remain low in the grass, staying downwind, sometimes hiding behind small mounds to obscure their approach, taking advantage of their coloring to camouflage their appearance and blend into their surroundings [ 13 ].

Only 10% of cheetah chases are successful, and diet depends largely on where the cheetah lives [ 13 ]. Medium-sized and smaller prey, such as antelope and gazelles, hare and the young of larger antelope like wildebeest ( Connochaetes ), kudu ( Tragelaphus sp.) or oryx ( Oryx sp.) and small warthog ( Phacochoerus ) are the most common targets, and coalition males often take larger prey species like zebra ( Equus hippotigiris, E. dolichohippus ), kudu or ostrich ( Struthionidae ) [ 14 ]. Asiatic cheetahs prey on goitered gazelle ( Gazella subgutturosa ), ibex ( Capra sp. ), wild sheep ( Ovis sp.) and chinkara ( Gazella bennettii ) [ 14 ]. Factors that lead to a successful hunt include herd size, prey response, number of cheetahs hunting, and the distance the cheetah runs [ 13 , 39 ]. The cheetah can go days without water because they get hydration they need from the blood of their prey and will gorge themselves on a big enough kill and then fast for 2–5 days; however, they will hunt daily if possible [ 13 ].

Threats from other predators is one of the main reasons why nearly 80% of wild cheetahs today are found outside of protected areas (like national parks or wildlife reserves) and living alongside human communities [ 9 , 28 , 39 ]. In protected areas, cheetahs often lose their kill to larger and more aggressive predators. Cheetahs tend to lose 10–15% of their kills to other predators [ 39 ]. Cheetahs are apex predators and the best hunters on the savanna, they feed many species with their kills’ thus increasing biodiversity of the ecosystem in which they live [ 14 ]. Without this balance, other species within the ecosystem will also be adversely affected, ultimately resulting in negative consequences for the human population.

5. Threats to the cheetah

Conservation research shows that the greatest conservation problems are not biological but have more to do with humans. Climate change and human population growth compounds these threats to an already genetically compromised species [ 19 , 25 , 33 , 35 , 45 , 50 ]. Human-wildlife conflict, habitat loss and illegal wildlife trade have become the biggest threats to long-term cheetah survival [ 9 , 26 , 51 , 52 ].

The majority of people who live alongside cheetahs are rural subsistence farmers whose livelihoods depend on the health and wellbeing of their livestock. These farmers have traditionally viewed cheetah as worthless vermin, a nuisance and a threat. Some governments have sanctioned herd protection programs that allow for cheetahs on farmlands to be trapped and removed or killed on sight [ 51 ]. Culling of cheetahs in Namibia during the 1980s resulted in losses of nearly 7000 cheetahs due to real and perceived conflict with livestock and game farmers [ 18 , 53 ]. While these programs were popular during the 1970s and 1980s, this led to a rapid, widespread reduction in the numbers of wild cheetah, which fortunately has been stemmed by the intervention of conservationists and the introduction of non-lethal predator control techniques [ 19 ].

In Northern Africa, the rarity of the Saharan or desert cheetah is directly linked to the rarity of the prey species, as the IUCN Red List lists both predator and prey as critically endangered species [ 28 ]. The Saharan cheetah can still be found in small numbers in Algeria (Ahaggar and Tassili N’Ajjer), Niger (Termit and Aïr), and possibly also in Mali, Chad and Mauritania [ 9 , 28 ]. Due to the decline of prey, mainly from poaching and overhunting, these cheetahs are living primarily on hare ( Lagomorpha ) but are known to attack and kill young camels ( Camelus dromedarius ) and goats ( Capra sp ), provoking retaliation [ 45 ].

Habitat destruction across Africa and Iran is one of the biggest problems threatening cheetah survival. As wild lands are being destroyed and fragmented by human expansion, landscapes across Africa that once supported thousands of cheetahs now support only a few. With habitat loss comes the decline in wild game species that provide prey for the cheetah [ 45 ]. As the human population continues to grow exponentially, there is an every-increasing demand for land rights. This affects the cheetah, as increased agricultural pressure and subdivision of land mean a decrease in available habitat for the cheetah and other wildlife species [ 25 ].

For many African wildlife species, living within a protected national park or private game reserve such as the Maasai Mara in Kenya, the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, or Kruger National Park in South Africa is the difference between life and death. Animals that live on protected lands are guarded by rangers and photographed by tourists, which makes them less likely to be poached. But for some species, including the cheetah, living in protected areas results in greater competition with other larger and more aggressive predators that will steal their kills and kill their cubs. There is a high cub mortality (up to 90% in protected areas), mainly due to predation [ 15 ]. Consequently, nearly 80% of all cheetahs throughout their range are found living outside of protected parks and reserves [ 9 , 28 ].

The lifespan of an adult cheetah is between 8 and 10 years [ 18 , 42 ]. Adult mortality is one of the most significant limiting factors for cheetah population growth and survival [ 18 , 54 , 55 ].

Because of in-depth, in situ research studies of the wild cheetah that have taken place since the early 1980s, we probably know more about this species than most any other big cat species [ 24 ]. The unique genetic profile of the cheetah demands a thorough understanding of their biology and capacity for reproduction. A potentially critical factor for the long-term survival of the cheetah is its lack of genetic variation relative to other felids [ 12 ].

Genetic homogeneity can make a species more susceptible to ecological and environmental changes to which the world is subjected now and has been interpreted in the context of two potential risks: the expression of recessive deleterious alleles and increased vulnerability to viral and parasitic epizootics that can affect genetically uniform populations [ 11 , 12 ]. Cheetahs are known to be very susceptible to several feline diseases and are possibly more vulnerable due to the lack of heterogeneity in the population [ 11 , 56 , 57 ]. As cheetahs transverse the farmlands where more villages occur, the potential for disease transmission increases. Given the species lack of genetic diversity, monitoring the overall health of cheetah populations is an important component of understanding and promoting its long-term viability.

Another major threat is the trafficking of live cheetahs for the illegal pet trade. Wildlife trafficking is one of the top five transnational crimes and it is impacting affecting the survival of many species (U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime). While cheetahs are not poached at the same high rates as elephants and rhinoceros in Africa, an estimated 300 cheetah cubs are being smuggled out of the continent each year to supply the illegal pet trade [ 52 ] ( Figure 2 ). Illegal capture is occurring mostly in Ethiopia, Somalia and northern Kenya, with most cases being reported in Somaliland [ 52 ]. Although trade in wildlife species products is regulated by both international and national laws, the illegal wildlife trade is estimated to be worth between $50–150 billion USD annually. Cheetahs, listed as an Appendix 1 species under CITES, are removed from the wild for the pet trade and for their body parts.

A caged cheetah cub confiscated from illegal wildlife trafficking. Cheetahs are often illegally sold as pets to the Middle East and for everyone that makes it live into the trade, 5 die in transport.

Because the cheetah is light and built for speed and has a flight versus fight instinct. For this reason, the cheetah is a sought-after pet in multiple regions of the world [ 52 ]. In the Gulf States, cheetahs are one of the most popular exotic pets and are a status symbol [ 52 ]. Photos posted on social media show cheetahs with gem-studded collars posing in luxury vehicles beside their owners, or riding in speedboats, or in other outlandish depictions.

Keeping a wild cheetah as an exotic pet undermines the species, as its numbers are so low it cannot sustain regular losses and still hope to survive. The illegal pet trade is decimating cheetah populations that are already small and nearly unsustainable [ 9 , 52 ]. Five out of six cubs poached die before being sold into the pet trade. Cheetah cubs that survive long enough to be sold most likely will not make it beyond 2 years of age. All will become sick, disabled and die prematurely. Improper diet, environment and lack of veterinary care result in a myriad of debilitating health problems [ 52 ].

Another human issue impacting the cheetah is tourism. Everyone who visits Africa on safari wants to see a cheetah. While tourism helps bring international attention to the cheetah and instills economic value in species survival, crowds of multiple vehicles surrounding cheetahs can have a negative impact [ 20 , 58 , 59 ]. Cheetahs hunt in the early morning and late afternoon when most game drives take place. Vehicles sometimes move between the cheetah and its prey so tourists can get a better view. This interferes with the cheetah’s ability to catch its prey and can separate mothers from cubs [ 20 , 58 , 59 ].

Predators are exceptionally aware of tourists and their vehicles and sometimes use them to their advantage. If a cheetah has made a kill it will most certainly lose it if vehicles are present, since other predators, particularly the hyena, lion or jackal are alerted by the tourists. If the cheetah has cubs, this is a very dangerous situation for them, as they are made more vulnerable by the interference of the vehicles. Research conducted in the Maasai Mara recorded that nearly 30% of cheetah sightings had more than 20 vehicles surrounding it, and of these, more than 50% were less than 30 yards from the animal [ 58 ]. Nearly 60% were reported as being noisy (hooting and engine revving) with tourists and drivers shouting or talking very loudly [ 20 ]. The busiest time for the tourist vehicles was found to be between 4:40 and 6:30 pm coinciding with the high times for hunting by cheetahs [ 20 ].

In the Maasai Mara, a high incidence in sarcoptic mange in cheetahs has been linked to stress caused by tourism vehicles. Chronic stress induces immuno-suppression, which in cheetahs has been found to contribute to a high occurrence of uncommon diseases, like mange, gastritis and amyloidosis [ 56 , 57 , 58 , 61 ].

6. Conservation initiatives

Solving cheetah conservation crisis involves addressing a complex web of social, environmental and economic issues. Although people are the root of most of the problems facing the cheetah in today’s world, they are also the solution as well. Over the past several years, conservation professionals have come together to look closely at the crisis for the cheetah and devise strategies for cheetah survival [ 9 , 24 ].

Though the situation for the wild cheetah is dire with less than 7100 wild adult and adolescents remaining, there is hope for species’ long-term survival. Efforts to educate communities living alongside cheetah through awareness building media campaigns and to obtain government buy-in have been successful [ 60 ]. Range-wide strategies for the cheetah have been developed and implementation is underway through eastern, southern, north, west and central Africa [ 9 , 14 , 36 ]. Capacity building for range country conservation scientist and agriculture extension officers is an ongoing process, using the “train the trainer” approach [ 26 , 60 ]. Committed conservationists are focusing on the bigger picture, encouraging community participation in finding solutions that alleviate conflict. The bigger picture allows for a global perspective and a multi-species, integrated approach to cheetah conservation.

At the 2003 World Park’s Conference, conservation practitioners agreed there was need for community ownership and responsibility over assessing and addressing human wildlife conflict (HWC). To be successful, improved communication on a local level between stakeholders and on a global level between experts, practitioners, local communities and international conservation organizations would be required. Guidance manuals, processes and systems needed to be developed, and HWC mitigation needed to be supported by international political and legal institutions.

In 2007 and again in 2012, government representatives, non-government organizations (NGOs) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission’s (SSC) Cat Specialist Group met to develop regional strategies for the survival of cheetahs [ 20 , 21 , 22 ]. Since then, strategies for the three regions of Africa have been developed: central, west, and southern, eastern and north. The Range Wide Conservation Plan is a joint initiative of the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Zoological Society of London, in partnership with the Cat and Canid Specialist Groups of the IUCN/SSC. These strategies have created a structure under which government programs could be developed, thus enabling conservation action on a national level. Subsequently, National Action Plans have been developed in 13 cheetah range countries [ 14 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ].

Today, cheetah research and conservation programs are found in Botswana, Iran, Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania, South Africa, and Zimbabwe [ 14 ]. Furthermore, cheetah research and training has been conducted in countries such as Algeria, Angola, Benin, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Niger, Zambia and Somaliland [ 26 ].

Community-based, natural resource management NGOs are also working with many communities throughout Africa to develop integrated programs incorporating tourism development and economic incentives to diversify livelihoods for its citizens [ 62 ]. Through outreach programs focusing on agricultural education, farmers are being taught about livestock health and management along with grasslands, wildlife and basic principles of ecology [ 19 , 60 ]. Conservancies—collaborative partnerships of neighboring farms united by common operating principles—are being formed to implement standardized land management techniques that benefit people, livestock and wildlife [ 33 , 49 , 63 , 64 ]. Examples of successful conservancies are being used to provide the basis for developing large-scale trans-boundary land management plans for the future [ 64 ].

Conservation biologists increasingly underscore that national parks and reserves alone are not large enough to sustain the wildlife they were created to protect. This is particularly true for the cheetah [ 25 , 65 ]. Therefore, the focus on conservation of private land is crucial. Conservancies are one of the most important solutions for cheetah survival as they promote sustainable management of natural resources and development of responsible eco-tourism [ 64 ]. Conservancies give communities a vested interest in the welfare of local wildlife by giving them control over the economic benefits from wildlife populations. As a result, fewer problems with poaching are experienced and human-wildlife conflict is reduced [ 49 ].

With populations dwindling through most cheetah-range countries, cheetah survival depends on people using an informed, integrated approach to conservation. Education is the foundation and must include communication, information sharing and capacity building [ 60 , 66 ]. In 2005, CCF began conducting month-long courses to bring together conservation managers, scientists, and community representatives from African cheetah-range countries and Iran [ 66 ]. The courses build capacity, with a goal of stabilizing cheetah populations. More than 300 participants are now managing cheetah and wildlife conservation programs in their own countries.

At the same time, research into ways to conserve and restore habitat for cheetahs and farmers is also important by working with local livestock farming communities, to help improve their livelihoods. Assigning economic value to cheetahs and having a thriving population on the landscape is key. Training programs have been developed by the Cheetah Conservation Fund that address human-wildlife conflict called Future Farmers of Africa (FFA) [ 66 ]. FFA teaches best agricultural practices to rural farmers to help them manage integrated wildlife and livestock farmlands. FFA also teaches how non-lethal predator control methods can reduce predation losses. The use of livestock guarding dogs is included in this course. CCF has helped develop similar programs throughout the cheetah’s range. Many of these methods of reducing predator conflict are also applicable or adaptable to other animals such as mountain lions, jaguars and wolves, and have been used as models elsewhere in the world.

FFA covers topics like livestock health, veterinary care, husbandry, and valuation as well as wildlife and rangeland management, methods of non-lethal predator control, predator identification and best practices to reduce livestock losses including the use of kraals, birthing camps as well as seasonal, coordinated breeding. The use of a livestock guarding dog has been shown to be a very effective tool and is included in training [ 67 ] (see Figure 3 ). The Anatolian shepherd or Kangal dogs have been used for thousands of years in the Turkish region of Anatolia as livestock guarding dogs, where they were formidable guardians of livestock against bears and wolves [ 69 , 70 , 71 ].

A goat herd protected by a livestock guardian dog in Namibia. Turkish Anatolian shepherd and Kangal dogs are bred and placed with livestock through the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia.

Since 1994, the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) in Namibia, has bred and placed these dogs with livestock farmers to reduce conflict with livestock and reduce the killing of cheetahs and other predators. Farmers who use CCF LGDs report a decrease in predation rates ranging over 80% [ 70 , 72 ]. Simultaneously, LGDs reduce the killing and capture of cheetahs and other predators [ 72 , 73 ]. The dogs have been so successful, similar programs in South Africa, Botswana and in Tanzania [ 68 ].

Increasingly, today’s consumers rely on product labels to guide their purchases, and at the same time, are willing to pay a premium price to ensure a product’s providence. In 2000, CCF conceptualized the Cheetah Country—Eco-Labeling Program to encourage predator-friendly farming techniques in producing beef, goat cheese, crafts, honey and wine [ 49 , 62 ]. Under the brand Cheetah Country , CCF hopes to transform the perception of cheetahs from vermin that threaten farmers’ livelihoods into that of a precious natural resource fostering tourism and economic development. The eco-label certifies a product meets or exceeds a set of consistent standards for environmental protection or social justice. Cheetah Country Beef, the eco- label for cattle farmers who ascribe to predator-friendly farming practices, has not yet been launched, however, under the voluntary certification, farmers would sign an agreement stating they will not indiscriminately kill cheetahs on their farmland and in return, they would receive a price premium for their meat [ 49 , 62 , 74 ]. The extra money will help farmers cover the cost of implementing non-lethal predator control measures, like the cost of calving kraals or keeping a livestock guarding dog [ 49 ]. The most successful example of an eco-label in food production is dolphin-friendly tuna, a concept that has gained traction around the world. Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network (WFEN), an international organization that promotes conservation through facilitation and certification of responsibly-produced agricultural products is putting these concepts to use for cheetahs as well, if WFEN’s standards for certification are met [ 62 ].

7. Conclusion

The outlook for the cheetah is today in human’s hands. Cheetah populations can rebound. But humans also have the capacity to save them. In many parts of Africa, cheetahs and other large predators are viewed as threats to human livelihoods, rather than species vital to maintaining healthy, balanced ecosystems. Good livestock management can protect herds while allowing prey and room for cheetahs and other predators. Having thriving cheetah populations also brings economic value to land as they and other predator species help drive tourism.

Implementation of more programs now is critical, so future generations will benefit from having cheetahs on earth. Continuing to expand our scientific research will be important ( Figure 4 ), while collaborating with international institutions in fields such as cheetah health, genetics, reproduction, ecology to establish population numbers, as well as expanding training and capacity building programs will be key in cheetah conservation, while expanding efforts to stop the illegal cheetah trafficking. If we wait much longer, we will lose this amazing feline icon of speed and grace. A holistic approach that considers all stakeholders is critical to balance the needs of people, wildlife and the land and try to make their efforts sustainable. This way, the communities are more likely to be good stewards of wildlife. The end goal to save the cheetah is to achieve coexistence. This is the only way to ensure a permanent place for cheetahs on Earth.

Satellite collars allow monitoring of cheetahs movements. Through understand the cheetah’s use of their large home ranges (ave. 1500 km 2 ) allows for management plans can be used with rural communities to plan for the cheetahs’ survival in the future.

Education and outreach are key in building awareness for the cheetah’s plight and for developing sustainable practices that alleviate pressure on the species. Looking to the future, teaching conservation and instilling a high regard for the environment among young learners will help cheetahs secure a permanent place on Earth.

Creative approaches are also necessary. The future of the cheetah will require enhancing the livelihoods of the human communities that live alongside them. These include developing alternative income sources, such as eco-tourism, economic incentives for predator-friendly products. The concept is that farmers in cheetah range areas can be monitored and certified as practicing predator-friendly livestock management. In return for being good stewards to the cheetahs on their land, these farmers can be certified with the Cheetah Country eco-label and receive premium prices for their products [ 49 , 62 ]. A program in development, its model could serve to protect all of the world’s predators, each of whom are threatened by conflict with humans and yet are vital to maintaining the health and biodiversity of their ecosystem.

Despite all of the problems facing the cheetah, including genetic uniformity, competition with other large predators, destruction of habitat and conflict with humans, this iconic animal has survived for thousands of years. Cheetahs continue to fulfill their ecological role as the fastest mammalian apex predator on land. With integrated conservation programs across large landscapes, survival of cheetahs for future generations can be attained [ 26 ].

Acknowledgments

Thanks to the Cheetah Conservation Fund for their support of long-term research ( www.cheetah.org ), Susan Yannetti and Natalie Minor for their assistance with editing of this Chapter.

• 1. Johnson WE, Ezirik E, Pecon-Slattery J, Murphy WJ, Antunes A, Teeling E, et al. The late Miocene radiation of modern Felidae: A genetic assessment. Science. 2006; 311 :73-77. DOI: 10.1126/science.1122277
• 2. Li G, Davis BW, Eizirik E, Murphy WJ. Phylogenomic evidence for ancient hybridization in the genomes of living cats (Felidae). Genome Research. 2016; 26 :1-11. DOI: 10.1101/gr.186668.114
• 3. Van Valkenburgh B, Pang B, Cherin M, Rook L. The cheetah: Evolutionary history and paleoecology. In: Marker L, Boast LK, Schmidt-Küntzel A, editors. Biodiversity of the World—Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation. 1st ed. San Diego: Elsevier; 2018. pp. 25-32
• 4. Kitchener AC, Breitenmoser-Würsten C, Eizirik E, Gentry A, Werdelin L, Wilting A, et al. A revised taxonomy of the Felidae: The final report of the cat classification task force of the IUCN cat specialist group. Cat News Special Issue. 2017 January; 11 :18-28 Available from: https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/32616/A_revised_Felidae_Taxonomy_CatNews.pdf
• 5. Meachen J, Schmidt-Küntzel A, Haefele H, Steenkamp G, Robinson JM, Randau M, et al. Cheetah specialization: Physiology and morphology. In: Marker L, Boast LK, Schmidt-Küntzel A, editors. Biodiversity of the World—Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation. 1st ed. San Diego: Elsevier; 2018. pp. 93-105
• 6. Hildebrand M. Motions of the running cheetah and horse. Journal of Mammalogy. 1959; 40 :481-495
• 7. Hunter L, Hamman D. Cheetah. Cape Town: Struik Publishers; 2003. 144 p
• 8. Wilson RP, Griffiths IW, Mills MGL, Carbone C, Wilson JW, Scantlebury DM. Mass enhances speed but diminishes turn capacity in terrestrial pursuit predators. eLife. 2015; 4 :e06487. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.06487
• 9. Durant SM, Mitchell N, Groom R, Pettorelli N, Ipavec A, Jacobson A, et al. The global decline of cheetah and what it means for conservation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2017; 114 :528-533. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1611122114
• 10. O’Brien SJ, Wildt DE, Goldman D, Merril CR, Bush M. The cheetah is depauperate in genetic variation. Science. 1983; 221 :459-462. DOI: 10.1126/science.221.4609.459
• 11. O’Brien SJ, Roelke ME, Marker L, Newman A, Winkler CA, Meltzer D, et al. Genetic basis for species vulnerability in the cheetah. Science. 1985; 227 :1428-1434. DOI: 10.1126/science.2983425
• 12. Schmidt-Küntzel A, Dalton DL, Menotti-Raymond M, Fabiano E, Charruau P, Johnson WE, et al. Conservation genetics of the cheetah: Genetic history and implications for conservation. In: Marker L, Boast LK, Schmidt-Küntzel A, editors. Biodiversity of the World—Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation. 1st ed. San Diego: Elsevier; 2018. pp. 72-89
• 13. Caro TM. Cheetahs of the Serengeti Plains: Group Living in an Asocial Species. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 1994. p. 478
• 14. Marker L, Cristescu B, Dickman A, Nghikembua MT, Boast LK, Morrison T, et al. Ecology of free-ranging cheetahs. In: Marker L, Boast LK, Schmidt-Küntzel A, editors. Biodiversity of the World—Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation. 1st ed. San Diego: Elsevier; 2018. pp. 107-116
• 15. Durant SM. Living with the enemy: Avoidance of hyenas and lions by cheetahs in the Serengeti. Behavioral Ecology. 2000; 11 :624-632. DOI: 10.1093/beheco/11.6.624
• 16. Broekhuis F, Cozzi G, Valeix M, McNutt JW, Macdonald DW. Risk avoidance in sympatric large carnivores: Reactive or predictive? The Journal of Animal Ecology. 2013; 82 :1098-1105. DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12077
• 17. Mills MGL. Living near the edge: A review of the ecological relationships between large carnivores in the arid Kalahari. African Journal of Wildlife Research. 2015; 45 :127-137. DOI: 10.3957/056.045.0127
• 18. Marker L, Dickman AJ, Jeo RM, Mills MGL, Macdonald DW. Demography of the Namibian cheetah. Biological Conservation. 2003; 114 (3):413-425. DOI: 10.1016/S0006-3207(03)00069-7
• 19. Dickman A, Rust NA, Boast LK, Wykstra M, Richmond-Coggan L, Klein R, et al. The costs and causes of human-cheetah conflict on livestock and game farms. In: Marker L, Boast LK, Schmidt-Küntzel A, editors. Biodiversity of the World—Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation. 1st ed. San Diego: Elsevier; 2018. pp. 173-186
• 20. IUCN/SSC. Regional Conservation Strategy for the Cheetah and African Wild Dog in Eastern Africa. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN/SSC; 2007
• 21. IUCN/SSC. Regional Conservation Strategy for the Cheetah and African Wild Dog in Southern Africa. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN/SSC; 2007
• 22. IUCN/SSC. Regional Conservation Strategy for the Cheetah and African Wild Dog in Western, Central and Northern Africa. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN/SSC; 2012
• 23. RWCP and IUCN/SSC. Regional Conservation Strategy for the Cheetah and African Wild Dog in Southern Africa. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN/SSC; August 2015 (revised and updated)
• 24. Marker L, Grisham J, Brewer B. A brief history of cheetah conservation. In: Marker L, Boast LK, Schmidt-Küntzel A, editors. Biodiversity of the World—Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation. 1st ed. San Diego: Elsevier; 2018. pp. 3-14
• 25. Jeo RM, Schmidt-Küntzel A, Ballou JD, Sanjayan M. Drivers of habitat loss and fragmentation: Implications for the design of landscape linkages for cheetahs. In: Marker L, Boast LK, Schmidt-Küntzel A, editors. Biodiversity of the World—Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation. 1st ed. San Diego: Elsevier; 2018. pp. 137-149
• 26. Marker L, Boast LK, Schmidt-Küntzel A. What does the future hold? In: Marker L, Boast LK, Schmidt-Küntzel A, editors. Biodiversity of the World—Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation. 1st ed. San Diego: Elsevier; 2018. pp. 549-556
• 27. Cherin M, Iurino DA, Sardella R, Rook L. Acinonyx pardinensis (Carnivora, Felidae) from the early Pleistocene of Pantalla (Italy): Predatory behavior and ecological role of the giant Plio-Pleistocene cheetah. Quaternary Science Reviews. 2014; 87 :82-97. DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.01.004
• 28. Marker L, Cristescu B, Morrison T, Flyman MV, Horgan J, Sogbohossou EA, et al. Cheetah rangewide status and distribution. In: Marker L, Boast LK, Schmidt-Küntzel A, editors. Biodiversity of the World—Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation. 1st ed. San Diego: Elsevier; 2018. pp. 34-51
• 29. Farhadinia MS, Hunter LTB, Jourabchian AR, Hosseini-Zavarei F, Akbari H, Ziaie H, et al. The critically endangered Asiatic cheetah Acinonyx jubatus venaticus in Iran: A review of recent distribution, and conservation status. Biodiversity and Conservation. 2017; 26 :1027. DOI: 10.1007/s10531-017-1298-8
• 30. Marker LL, Dickman AJ, Mills MGL, Jeo RM, Macdonald DW. Spatial ecology of cheetahs on north-central Namibian farmlands. Journal of Zoology. 2007; 274 :226-238. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7998.2007.00375.x
• 31. Belbachir F, Pettorelli N, Wacher T, Belbachir-Bazi A, Durant SM. Monitoring rarity: The critically endangered Saharan cheetah as a flagship species for a threatened ecosystem. PLoS One. 2015; 10 :e0115136. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0115136
• 32. Farhadinia MS, Akbari H, Eslami M, Adibi MA. A review of ecology and conservation status of Asiatic cheetah in Iran. Cat News Special Issue [Internet]. 2016 November; 10 :18-26. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/310794931_A_review_of_ecology_and_conservation_status_of_Asiatic_cheetah_in_Iran
• 33. Marker LL. Aspects of cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus ) biology, ecology and conservation strategies on Namibian farmlands [thesis]. Oxford: University of Oxford; 2002
• 34. Durant S. Range-wide conservation planning for cheetah and wild dog. Cat News [Internet]. 2007; 46 :13. Available from: http://www.catsg.org/cheetah/05_library/5_3_publications/D/Durant_2007_Range-wide_Conservation_Planning_for_Cheetah_and_Wild_Dog.pdf
• 35. Durant S, Mitchell N, Ipavec A, Groom R. Acinonyx jubatus. In: The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species [Internet]. 2015. p. e.T219A50649567. Available from: DOI: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T219A50649567.en
• 36. Durant SM, Mitchell N, Groom R, Ipavec A, Woodroffe R, Breitenmoser C, et al. The conservation status of the cheetah. In: Marker L, Boast LK, Schmidt-Küntzel A, editors. Biodiversity of the World—Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation. 1st ed. San Diego: Elsevier; 2018. pp. 533-548
• 37. Smithers RHN. Family felidae. In: Meester J, Sezter HW, editors. The Mammals of Africa: An Identification Manual. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press; 1977. p. 483
• 38. Nowell K, Jackson P. Wild cats: Status survey and conservation action plan. In: IUCN/SSC Action Plans or the Conservation of Biological Diversity [Internet]. Vol. 1. 1996. p. 382. Available from: https://portals.iucn.org/library/node/6998
• 39. Wachter B, Broekhuis F, Melzheimer J, Horgan J, Chelysheva EV, Marker L, et al. Behavior and communication of free-ranging cheetahs. In: Marker L, Boast LK, Schmidt-Küntzel A, editors. Biodiversity of the World—Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation. 1st ed. San Diego: Elsevier; 2018. pp. 121-133
• 40. Bissett C, Parker DM, Bernard RTF, Perry TW. Management-induced niche shift? The activity of cheetahs in the presence of lions. African Journal of Wildlife Research. 2015; 45 :197-203. DOI: 10.3957/056.045.0197
• 41. Myers N. The cheetah Acinonyx jubatus in Africa. In: IUCN Monograph No. 4. Switzerland: IUCN, Morges; 1975
• 42. Kelly MJ, Laurenson MK, Fitzgibbon CD, Collins DA, Durant SM, Frame GW, et al. Demography of the Serengeti cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus ) population: The first 25 years. Journal of Zoology. 1998; 244 :473-488. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7998.1998.tb00053.x
• 43. Laurenson MK, Wielebnowski N, Caro TM. Extrinsic factors and juvenile mortality in cheetahs. Conservation Biology. 1995; 9 :1329-1331. DOI: 10.1046/j.1523-1739.1995.9051327.x-i1
• 44. Marker LL, Wilkerson AJP, Sarno RJ, Martenson J, Breitenmoser-Würsten C, O’Brien SJ, et al. Molecular genetic insights on cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus ) ecology and conservation in Namibia. The Journal of Heredity. 2008; 99 (1):2-13. DOI: 10.1093/jhered/esm081
• 45. Marker L, Rabeil T, Comizzoli P, Clements H, Nghikembua MT, Hayward MW, et al. The status of key prey species and the consequences of prey loss for cheetah conservation in North and West Africa. In: Marker L, Boast LK, Schmidt-Küntzel A, editors. Biodiversity of the World—Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation. 1st ed. San Diego: Elsevier; 2018. pp. 151-159
• 46. Fabiano E, Boast LK, Fuller AK, Sutherland C. The use of remote camera trapping to study cheetahs: Past reflections and future directions. In: Marker L, Boast LK, Schmidt-Küntzel A, editors. Biodiversity of the World—Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation. 1st ed. San Diego: Elsevier; 2018. pp. 415-425
• 47. Nghikembua M, Harris J, Tregenza T, Marker L. Interactions between bush encroachment and large carnivore habitat selection: A case study on GPS satellite collared cheetahs in northern Namibia. Open Journal of Forestry. 2016; 6 (4):269-280. DOI: 10.4236/ojf.2016.64022
• 48. Muntifering JR, Dickman AJ, Perlow LM, Hruska T, Ryan PG, Marker LL, et al. Managing the matrix for large carnivores: A novel approach and perspective from cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus ) habitat suitability modelling. Animal Conservation. 2006; 9 :103-112. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-1795.2005.00008.x
• 49. Marker LL, Dickman AJ, Mills MGL, Macdonald DW. Cheetahs and ranches in Namibia: A case study. In: Macdonald DW, Loveridge J, editors. Biology, Conservation of Wild Felids. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2010. pp. 353-372
• 50. Nghikembua MT, Lehner F, Ottichilo W, Marker L, Amstrup SC. The impact of climate change on the conservation and survival of the cheetah. In: Marker L, Boast LK, Schmidt-Küntzel A, editors. Biodiversity of the World—Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation. 1st ed. San Diego: Elsevier; 2018. pp. 163-169
• 51. Nowell K, Rosen T. Global cheetah conservation policy: A review of international law and enforcement. In: Marker L, Boast LK, Schmidt-Küntzel A, editors. Biodiversity of the World—Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation. 1st ed. San Diego: Elsevier; 2018. pp. 291-303
• 52. Tricorache P, Nowell K, Wirth G, Mitchell N, Boast LK, Marker L. Pets and pelts: Understanding and combating poaching and trafficking in cheetahs. In: Marker L, Boast LK, Schmidt-Küntzel A, editors. Biodiversity of the World—Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation. 1st ed. San Diego: Elsevier; 2018. pp. 191-205
• 53. CITES. Quotas for trade in specimens of cheetah. In: Eighth Meeting of the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. 1992. pp. 1-5
• 54. Cristescu B, Schmidt-Küntzel A, Schwartz KR, Traeholt C, Marker L, Fabiano E, et al. A review of population viability analysis and its use in cheetah conservation. In: Marker L, Boast LK, Schmidt-Küntzel A, editors. Biodiversity of the World—Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation. 1st ed. San Diego: Elsevier; 2018. pp. 517-529
• 55. Berry H, Bush M, Davidson B, Forge O, Fox B, Grisham J, et al., editors. Population and habitat viability assessment for the Namibian cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus ) and lion ( Panthera leo ). In: Workshop Report. Apple Valley, MN: IUCN/SSC Conservation Breeding Specialist Group; 1997
• 56. Munson L, Terio K, Worley M, Jago M, Bagot-Smith A, Marker L. Extrinsic factors significantly affect patterns of disease in free-ranging and captive cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus ) populations. Journal of Wildlife Diseases. 2005; 41 (3):542-548. DOI: 10.7589/0090-3558-41.3.542
• 57. Terio KA, Mitchell E, Walzer C, Schmidt-Küntzel A, Marker L, Citino S. Diseases impacting captive and free-ranging cheetahs. In: Marker L, Boast LK, Schmidt-Küntzel A, editors. Biodiversity of the World—Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation. 1st ed. San Diego: Elsevier; 2018. pp. 349-360
• 58. Marker L. A Future for Cheetahs. Cheetah Conservation Fund. Virginia: Cheetah Conservation Fund; 2014. p. 208
• 59. Burney DA. The effects of human activities on cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus ) in the Mara region of Kenya [thesis]. Narirobi: University of Nairobi; 1980
• 60. Hughes C, Horgan J, Klein R, Marker L. Cheetah conservation and educational programs. Book chapter. In: Marker L, Boast LK, Schmidt-Küntzel A, editors. Biodiversity of the World—Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation. 1st ed. San Diego: Elsevier; 2018. pp. 251-262
• 61. Mwanzia JM, Kock R, Wambua J, Kock N, Jarret O. An outbreak of Sarcoptic mange in the free-living cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus ) in the Mara region of Kenya. In: Proceedings of American Association of Zoo Veterinarians and American Association of Wildlife Veterinarians Joint Conference. 1995. pp. 105-112
• 62. Wykstra M, Combes G, Oguge N, Klein R, Boast LK, Mosimane AW, et al. Improved and alternative livelihoods: The link between poverty alleviation and biodiversity conservation. In: Marker L, Boast LK, Schmidt-Küntzel A, editors. Biodiversity of the World—Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation. 1st ed. San Diego: Elsevier; 2018. pp. 223-236
• 63. Jones B, Weaver C. CBNRM in Namibia: Growth, trends, lessons and constraints. In: Suich H, Child B, Spenceley A, editors. Evolution, Innovation in Wildlife Conservation: Parks, Game Ranches to Transfrontier Conservation Areas. London: Earthscan; 2009. pp. 223-242
• 64. Powell LA, Kharuxab R, Marker L, Nghikembua MT, Omusula S, Reid RS, et al. Coordination of large landscapes for cheetah conservation. In: Marker L, Boast LK, Schmidt-Küntzel A, editors. Biodiversity of the World—Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation. 1st ed. San Diego: Elsevier; 2018. pp. 239-248
• 65. Cristescu B, Lindsey P, Maes O, Bissett C, Mills G, Marker L. Protected areas for cheetah conservation. In: Marker L, Boast LK, Schmidt-Küntzel A, editors. Biodiversity of the World—Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation. 1st ed. San Diego: Elsevier; 2018. pp. 265-272
• 66. Marker L, Boast L. Human wildlife conflict 10 years later: Lessons learnt and their application to cheetah conservation. Human Dimensions of Wildlife. 2015; 20 (4):1-8. DOI: 10.1080/10871209.2015.1004144
• 67. Marker LL, Dickman AJ, Macdonald DW. Perceived effectiveness of livestock guarding dogs placed on Namibian farms. Rangeland Ecology & Management. 2005; 58 :329-336. DOI: 10.2111/1551-5028(2005)058[0329:PEOLDP]2.0.CO;2
• 68. Dickman A, Potgieter G, Horgan J, Stoner K, Klein R, McManus J, et al. Use of livestock guarding dogs to reduce human-cheetah conflict. In: Marker L, Boast LK, Schmidt-Küntzel A, editors. Biodiversity of the World—Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation. 1st ed. San Diego: Elsevier; 2018. pp. 209-219
• 69. Coppinger R, Lorenz J, Glendinning J, Pinardi P. Attentiveness of guarding dogs for reducing predation on domestic sheep. Journal of Range Management. 1983; 36 :275-279. DOI: 10.2307/3898468
• 70. Andelt WF. Effectiveness of livestock guarding dogs for reducing predation on domestic sheep. Wildlife Society Bulletin. 1992; 20 :55-62 Retrieved from: www.jstor.org/stable/3782760
• 71. Rigg R. Livestock guarding dogs: Their current use world wide. In: IUCN/SSC Canid Specialist Group, Occasional Paper No. 1. 2001
• 72. Potgieter GC, Kerley GIH, Marker LL. More bark than bite? The role of livestock guarding dogs in predator control on Namibian farmlands. Oryx. 2016; 50 (3):514-522. DOI: 10.1017/S0030605315000113
• 73. Horgan JE. Testing the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of livestock guarding dogs in Botswana [thesis]. Grahamstown: Rhodes University; 2015
• 74. Bell D. Cheetah Country Beef Business Plan. Windhoek, Namibia: MeatCo; 2006

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Continue reading from the same book

Published: 20 November 2019

By Md Akhter Hossain, Rajib Mahmud, Nikhil Chakma and...

931 downloads

By Carla Neves Machado, Leonor Orge, Isabel Pires, Ad...

1666 downloads

By Magdalena Larska and Michał K. Krzysiak

1246 downloads

• Games & Quizzes
• History & Society
• Science & Tech
• Biographies
• Animals & Nature
• Geography & Travel
• Arts & Culture
• On This Day
• One Good Fact
• New Articles
• Lifestyles & Social Issues
• Philosophy & Religion
• Politics, Law & Government
• World History
• Health & Medicine
• Browse Biographies
• Birds, Reptiles & Other Vertebrates
• Bugs, Mollusks & Other Invertebrates
• Environment
• Fossils & Geologic Time
• Entertainment & Pop Culture
• Sports & Recreation
• Visual Arts
• Demystified
• Image Galleries
• Infographics
• Top Questions
• Britannica Kids
• Saving Earth
• Space Next 50
• Student Center
• Introduction & Top Questions

Natural history

• Status and taxonomy

• How are mammals distinct from other animals?
• Why is the platypus a mammal?
• What are the basic functional systems of animals?

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

• San Diego Zoo Animals and Plants - Cheetah
• Animal Corner - Cheetah
• Animal Diversity Web - Cheetah
• Live Science - Cheetahs: Earth's fastest land animals
• Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute - Cheetah
• Frontiers - Three Characteristics of Cheetah Galloping Improve Running Performance Through Spinal Movement: A Modeling Study
• A-Z Animals - Cheetah
• cheetah - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
• cheetah - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
• Table Of Contents

Where are cheetahs found in the wild?

Nearly all the cheetahs remaining in the wild live in Africa. In Asia they are almost extinct, with the largest confirmed population (a few dozen) inhabiting northeastern Iran.

What do cheetahs eat?

Cheetahs eat a variety of small animals, including game birds, rabbits, small antelopes (including the springbok, impala, and gazelle), young warthogs, and larger antelopes (such as the kudu, hartebeest, oryx, and roan).

What is the gestation period in a cheetah?

The gestation period in cheetahs is three months. The female gives birth to two to eight cubs.

What is the lifespan of a cheetah?

The life expectancy of cheetahs is about 7 years in the wild and 8 to 12 years in captivity.

How fast can a cheetah run?

The maximum speed cheetahs have been measured at is 114 km (71 miles) per hour, and they routinely reach velocities of 80–100 km (50–62 miles) per hour while pursuing prey.

Recent News

cheetah , ( Acinonyx jubatus ), one of the world’s most-recognizable cats, known especially for its speed. Cheetahs’ sprints have been measured at a maximum of 114 km (71 miles) per hour, and they routinely reach velocities of 80–100 km per hour while pursuing prey. Nearly all the cheetahs remaining in the wild live in Africa.

Cheetahs are the world’s fastest sprinters. What is the fastest long-distance animal?

Cheetahs are covered almost entirely with small black spots on a background of pale yellow and have a white underbelly. Their faces are distinguished by prominent black lines that curve from the inner corner of each eye to the outer corners of the mouth, like a well-worn trail of inky tears. Cheetahs have a long, slender body measuring 1.2 meters (4 feet), with a long tail (65–85 cm [2–3 feet]) that generally ends in a white tuft. They are about 75 cm tall at the shoulder. Weight ranges from 34 to 54 kg (75 to 119 pounds), males being slightly larger than females.

Cheetahs have evolved many adaptations that enhance their ability to sprint. Their legs are proportionally longer than those of other big cats; an elongated spine increases stride length at high speeds; they have unretractable claws, special paw pads for extra traction, and a long tail for balance. Internally, the liver , adrenal glands, lungs, bronchi, nasal passages, and heart are all large to allow intense physiological activity. During a chase, cheetahs take about 3 1 / 2 strides per second and 60 to 150 breaths per minute. Chases are usually limited to sprints of less than 200–300 metres, however, because the increased physiological activity associated with running creates heat faster than it can be released through evaporative cooling (sweating through their paws and panting).

Unlike most carnivores, cheetahs are active mainly during the day, hunting in the early morning and late afternoon. A cheetah eats a variety of small animals, including game birds, rabbits, small antelopes (including the springbok , impala , and gazelle ), young warthogs, and larger antelopes (such as the kudu , hartebeest , oryx , and roan ). Prey is generally consumed quickly to avoid losing it to competitors such as lions, leopards, jackals, and hyenas.

Cheetahs inhabit a wide variety of habitats, including the dry, open country and grasslands where they are most often seen, as well as areas of denser vegetation and rocky upland terrain. Groups consist of a mother and her young or of coalitions made up of two or three males that are often brothers. Adult males and females rarely meet except to mate. Male coalitions live and hunt together for life and occupy an area that may overlap the range of several adult females. Female home ranges are generally much larger than those of male coalitions.

Following a gestation period of three months, the female gives birth to two to eight cubs, usually in an isolated spot hidden in the cover of tall grass or thicker vegetation. At birth, cubs weigh about 250 to 300 grams (slightly more than half a pound). Their fur is dark and includes a thick yellowish gray mane along the back, a trait that presumably offers better camouflage and increased protection from high temperatures during the day and low temperatures at night during the first few months of life. Mortality among young cubs can be as high as 90 percent in the wild, often because of other predators. The mother leaves her offspring when they are 16–24 months old. Young males are chased away by the resident male coalition, traveling several hundred kilometres before establishing residence and becoming sexually active at 2 1 / 2 to 3 years of age. Female offspring will generally inhabit the same vicinity as their mother. Life expectancy of cheetahs is about 7 years in the wild and generally from 8 to 12 years in captivity.

• Safari ideas
• Experiences
• Special offers
• Accommodation
• Start planning
• Booking terms
• When to go on safari - month by month
• East or Southern Africa safari?
• Solo travellers
• Women on safari
• Accommodation types & luxury levels
• General tips & advice
• All stories
• Afrika Odyssey Expedition
• Photographer of the Year
• Read on our app
• 2024 entries
• 2024 details
• 2024 prizes
• 2024 entry form
• 2023 winners
• Collar a lion
• Save a pangolin
• Rules of engagement
• Job vacancies
• Ukuri - safari camps

Agile, swift, graceful, lethal...

Africa Geographic Editorial

Friday, 07 December 2018

“A cheetah in full flight is one of Africa’s most breathtaking sights – that blindingly rapid and yet sublimely smooth acceleration and the ability to swerve at full speed take one’s breath away. And, with a hunting success rate above 50%, cheetahs are amongst the most successful of Africa’s large carnivores when it comes to hunting efficiency, second only to painted wolves.

And yet, the evolutionary sacrifices that cheetahs have made in their quest for speed and agility have placed them at a disadvantage when it comes to defending themselves and their food against other predators. Lions, leopards and hyenas frequently rob cheetahs of their hard-earned meals, and even kill adult and baby cheetahs, in the ongoing brutal battles amongst predators over resources. Game reserves and national parks with high populations of large predators tend to harbour small cheetah populations, and most cheetahs are often found in the vast lands beyond protected areas. Trying to avoid conflict with stronger predators, cheetahs move to unprotected areas. However, there they come into conflict with pastoralists, who see cheetahs as potential livestock killers, which leads to retaliatory killing of cheetahs.

Cheetahs have another reason to fear humans. Their relatively timid nature and lack of brute strength and sharp hooked claws make cheetahs popular pets for humans. Even though no wild animal species should be tamed and made into household pets or items in personal zoo collections, there is a substantial trade in wild-caught and captive-bred cheetahs. And the recent upsurge in South Africa of tourism’ predator encounters’ and cub petting facilities has increased the demand for cheetahs, which have a longer usage shelf-life in this regard than do lions.”

~ Simon Espley, CEO of Africa Geographic

The following notes were based on information from IUCN Red List , supplemented by Dr Elena Chelysheva from the Mara-Meru Cheetah Project .

Brief introduction

Cheetahs are the fastest land mammals, with documented speeds up to 115 km/hour in captivity and 93 km/hour in the wild, but they cannot maintain such speeds for more than a few hundred metres. By comparison, sprinter Usain Bolt hits a top speed of 45 km/hour over a maximum of 100 metres. They are found in a wide range of habitats, from dry forest and thick scrub to savannah grassland and arid deserts.

Cheetahs take a wide variety of prey, predominantly small or medium antelope species such as Thomson’s gazelle and impala, but also larger species such as wildebeest and kudu. They also target ground-dwelling birds such as francolins and bustards and small mammals such as hares. Unlike many predators, cheetahs rarely scavenge.

Cheetahs adapt to various environmental conditions and display different behaviours depending on the area and country. For example, in South Africa in areas with high large carnivore densities, cheetahs can lose up to around 10% of their kills to lions and spotted hyenas. In these areas, they are primarily active during the day and during full moon periods when there is excellent visibility, and tend to abandon their kills once they have eaten their fill – both habits are thought to reduce conflict with lions and hyenas.

In contrast, in areas where there are fewer other predators, they have been recorded as being primarily nocturnal, although this may be to avoid the increased human activity in those areas. In Kenya’s Maasai Mara, cheetahs change their diurnal activity and become nocturnal, depending on current needs and circumstances, and some of them become successful hunters in total darkness!

Read about how cheetahs modify prey handling behaviour to outsmart lions and hyenas here

SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND TERRITORIES Female cheetahs tend to be solitary (when not with dependent young), whereas males tend to form coalitions of two or four (often littermates) – a social organisation that is unique amongst cats. Sometimes brothers accept unrelated males and such unions last from a few weeks to several years. In the Maasai Mara, a male coalition named the Fast Five has become famous because it was formed from unrelated males, who travel, hunt and rest together, but split for mating so that each member gets the chance to breed.

Although females display preference to specific partners, adaptive mechanism leads them to mate with as many males as possible to increase genetic diversity.

In areas where prey is not migratory (such as Namibian farms), cheetahs establish large home ranges (up to 3,000 sq. km!)  with extensively utilised core areas, with male and female ranges overlapping to an extent. It is thought that the large home ranges are to avoid clashing with other large predators such as lions, leopards and hyenas.

In areas where prey is migratory (such as the Serengeti/Maasai Mara ecosystem), some cheetahs follow the herds. In contrast, others establish territories (60 – 150 sq. km) or become nomadic, covering vast territories within the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem.

BREEDING AND CUB MORTALITY

Wild female cheetahs live to about 14 years and males to 10 years. Females have been recorded as starting to breed at two-years-old and to continue beyond 12-years-old. The cubs are born after a three-month gestation period and kept hidden away in a lair for the first two months of their lives. During this time, the mother will be out hunting and therefore absent from the lair during daylight hours.

Cub mortality can be high – up to 95% reported in the Serengeti, 76 – 74% in the Mara and 64% in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. Lions, spotted hyenas and leopards are key predators of cheetah cubs, in addition to smaller predators such as honey badgers, jackals and secretary birds. In the Mara, depending on the year, only 7 to 15% of cubs reach the age of independence.

Surviving cubs remain with their mother for 12 – 22 months, after which they will roam with their littermates for a few weeks or up to six months. At this time, females split from their siblings , while surviving males will stay together for life or join up with unrelated males to form a coalition.

The cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus ) has 4 subspecies, now recognised by the IUCN Cat Specialist Group and detailed as follows:

• Acinonyx jubatus hecki (Northwest African cheetah) • Acinonyx jubatus jubatus (Southeast African cheetah) •  Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii (Northeast African cheetah) • Acinonyx jubatus venaticus  (North Africa to central India – the Asiatic cheetah)

The cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus ) has been described as a species with low levels of genetic variation as a consequence of a demographic bottleneck 10,000 – 12,000 years ago, which led to small genetic differences between the subspecies. However, an examination of mitochondrial DNA and microsatellites in cheetah samples from most of the historical range of the species undertaken in 2011, revealed the distinctiveness of Northeast African cheetahs ( A. j. soemmeringii ) from Southeast African ( A. j. jubatus ) and Asiatic cheetahs ( A.j.venaticus ).

The English name ‘cheetah’ is derived from Sanskrit’ citra’ , meaning spotted or speckled.

The scientific name Acinonyx jubatus derives from Latin and Greek with the genus name referring to its semi-retractable claws and the species name – to the mantle which covers the cub’s body for a few months of age.

Conservation status and populations

At the beginning of the 20 th Century, over 100,000 cheetahs roamed Africa and Asia, but by the end of that century, the wild cheetah population had reduced to 15,000. Currently, the total population is estimated at 7,100 adult and adolescent animals of known cheetah populations, with 4,297 living in Southern Africa, 2,290 in Eastern Africa and 457 in Western, Central, and Northern Africa. In Africa, cheetahs are resident only on 13% of their historical range, and in Asia on just 2% of a historical range – entirely within Iran, where less than 50 animals recorded.

The cheetah is classified as ‘Vulnerable’ in terms of the IUCN Red List, while the two subspecies A. j. venaticus (Asiatic cheetah) and A. j. heckii (Northwest African cheetah) are listed as ‘Critically endangered’.

Major threats

Because cheetahs require such large ranges, they are especially vulnerable to habitat loss and fragmentation.

Those living outside protected areas are often threatened by conflict with livestock and game farmers. Although they do prefer wild prey over livestock, they have been known to kill domestic livestock species, and so face retaliatory persecution by farmers. Game farmers may also target cheetahs due to a perceived threat to their farmed game species.

Because cheetahs rarely scavenge, they are less susceptible to poisoning than are other carnivores such as hyenas, leopards and lions. Cheetah do though get caught in snares set for bushmeat, even though they may not be the primary target.

Cheetahs can survive in low prey-density areas because they are such efficient hunters. Still, they are nevertheless vulnerable to the reduction in prey species due to hunting, high livestock densities and grazing pressure, and habitat conversion. Low prey densities, in turn, cause cheetahs to target domestic livestock. High-speed roads also represent a threat to cheetahs, especially where tarred roads cross or adjoin major wildlife areas.

Unregulated tourism can threaten cheetah populations, where large numbers of tourist vehicles or insensitive tourist behaviour can lead to interference with cheetahs hunting, scaring cheetah away from kills, and separation of mothers from cubs.

Cheetahs are hunted in some areas for their skins, and also for cultural uses. Additionally, there is a substantial illegal trade in wild-caught cheetah cubs and adults to the Gulf states.

Read about how cheetah cub survival is impacted by high-tourism areas here

USE AND TRADE CITES permits a legal quota for “live specimens and trophy hunting” of cheetahs in Namibia, Zimbabwe and Botswana, with most resultant trade primarily being of hunting trophies from Namibia and captive-bred animals from South Africa. There is a strong suspicion that some of the animals traded from South Africa as captive-bred are in fact wild-caught. Observers have reported illegal international movement of live-captured wild cheetahs between Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.

The illegal trade in cheetah skins for traditional use and live wild-caught cheetah cubs is an ongoing issue, with the primary market for the live cubs being the Gulf States . The cubs are sourced in Ethiopia and Kenya, via Somali-controlled trading operations. There is a high mortality rate (estimated 70%) amongst wild-caught cubs, and captive conditions in the Gulf States are often not satisfactory, with inappropriate diet leading to illness and early death.

Historically a key cause of the demise of the Asiatic cheetah populations was from illegal capture and trade and the hunting for their skins. Currently, illegal trade in live cheetahs remains a problem issue.

FINAL THOUGHTS

HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF AFRICA GEOGRAPHIC:

• Travel with us . Travel in Africa is about knowing when and where to go, and with whom. A few weeks too early / late and a few kilometres off course and you could miss the greatest show on Earth. And wouldn’t that be a pity? Browse our ready-made packages or answer a few questions to start planning your dream safari .
• Subscribe to our FREE newsletter / download our FREE app to enjoy the following benefits.
• Plan your safaris in remote parks protected by African Parks via our sister company https://ukuri.travel/ - safari camps for responsible travellers

Friend's Email Address

Your Email Address

Learn about the habitats and ecosystems that cheetahs live in, and their relationships with other species in the ecosystem.

This page covers:

Ecological studies and researches are the first step in understanding the movement, diet, and behavioral patterns of any species of wildlife, as well as the biodiversity and well-being of the entire ecosystem. In Namibia, because 90% of the cheetah population lives on farmlands alongside 80% of the country’s wildlife species, it is crucial to invest in ecological research and conservation efforts in order to ensure that wildlife, livestock, and farmers can all coexist together. Education and outreach efforts are also equally important in educating people to make more sustainable utilizations of the land and its resources, and preserve the richness in biodiversity and land fertility for future generations.

Ecosystem and Habitat

Understanding the relationships and interactions of elements in the ecosystem and habitat where cheetahs live is crucial for any conservation and management efforts. Understanding of subjects in this area can help answer questions such as “what animals do cheetahs prey on and eat” and “what are its roles in its habitat and relationships with other species of animals”.

Where Cheetahs Live

Cheetah habitat.

African savannas have rich fauna biodiversity and house the habitats of a wide range of wildlife.

Animals, includes cheetah, are adapted to live in specific habitats. Cheetahs live mainly in grassland savanna. They prefer habitat which includes some cover in the form of bushes, medium length grass, trees, and small hills. Cheetahs need abundant prey in their habitat to survive and reproduce. In Namibia their habitat is densely bushed due to bush encroachment.

Cheetahs sometimes live in a wide variety of habitats. They occasionally use semi-desert, dense woodland or mountainous terrain. Older animals unable to defend territories and young cheetahs just starting to live on their own use these marginal habitats.

Namibian Biomes

Namibia is a country with rich biodiversity, as its land spans over five distinct types of biomes.

Map of Namibian biomes and cheetah ranges in Namibia. Cheetahs prefer the savanna biome which supports the animals they prey on.

The Cheetah’s Prey

Cheetahs prefer game to livestock.

Cheetahs are born to prey on wild game, and will instinctually go after them. Cheetahs only go after livestock as a last resort when wild game is not available. This makes maintaining healthy ecosystems very important.

Cheetahs hunt mostly small antelope, young of large antelope, warthog, hare and game birds. They may take livestock in exceptional or opportunistic cases.

Cheetahs prefer game to livestock.

The cheetah’s lightweight build limits the size of prey they catch. Male coalitions can, however, overcome larger prey. Coalitions also stand a better chance at defending their prey against competitors than single cheetahs.

Predators have to work very hard to catch their prey. Cheetahs need to carefully select the animal they are most likely to catch. For this reason cheetahs, like all other predators, target animals that are old, sick, very young, injured, or slow. This allows only the strongest to survive and pass on their genes, thus maintaining a healthier game population.

Cheetahs in a coalition need to work together as a team to bring down larger and stronger prey, such as this wildebeest.

One of cheetahs' favorite type of prey are the gazelles, although they are very vigilant, fast and agile, thus are hard to catch.

Cheetah’s Role in the Ecosystem

Cheetah’s role.

A simplified illustration of the food web of a savanna ecosystem.

Every animal species has its role (or niche) in the ecosystem that it lives in. As a carnivorous predator, the cheetah’s role in the ecosystem is important as it helps to maintain balanced and healthy food webs.

One of the cheetah’s roles in the ecosystem is to help keep the population of grazing animals at a healthy state. Because of the fact that cheetahs do not have the strength to go after big games such as adult wildebeest, elands, and kudus, they go after the ones that are young, weak, or sick. This helps to ensure that only the strongest of those species will survive, and also the populations of those species won’t reach the limit the ecosystem could handle such that it will have negative consequences.

Relationships with other species

Perhaps the cheetahs’ closest interactions with other species of animals other than the ones preyed upon are their competitors. While there are no species of animals that solely prey on the cheetahs as a food source, many compete with the cheetahs for food, territory, and dominance. Lions, leopards, and hyenas are the most formidable competitors that would come into the way of the cheetahs.

Despite the fact that competitions inevitably lead to casualties, it is an important aspect of any healthy ecosystem. Competitions ensure that no species of animal absolutely dominates all the resources in a territory, and resources are partitioned accordingly among the competing species as much as possible to minimize conflict. This leads to a balanced ecosystem with the most biodiversity, as each species is unique in its role within the ecosystem.

Hyenas often try to either steal cheetahs' killed preys or scavenge on the remains.

Lions will often take over the cheetah's prey easily as they are superior in strength.

Eco-management

Effective management of land, livestock, and wildlife are essential ingredients that lead to sustainable utilizations of resources, more sustainable human developments, as well as better conservation of wildlife and the entire ecosystem. Effective farming practices can yield maximal profits and minimal degradations to the land and nature. Conservancies empower farmers with more well-managed ownership of lands, and can generate income through other revenues such as eco-tourism.

Hunting and Predator Control

Traditional hunting versus poaching.

Subsistence hunting for food is carried out throughout the world where families live off the land. Traditional methods of traps and snares are still popular but more and more people are turning toward guns.

Conservation Through Sustainable Utilization

Sustainability refers to a process that can last forever. Utilizing a resource sustainably means that using the natural resource will not destroy it. Hunting can be a form of sustainable use. A sustainable outlook on hunting also sets aside a portion of the revenue collected from the hunt to support conservation efforts for the species.

Hunting has changed through the ages from a necessity for survival, to a sport and a management activity. Ethical hunters and trophy hunting operations operate with the best intentions for conservation and the continued existence of the population being hunted.

In Namibia, there are a number of laws that regulate hunting. Permits are required to hunt wildlife that has been divided up into numerous categories, namely, hunt-able game. With each of these categories there are differing requirements for permits.

Population Control

Game farmers have to manage their herds throughout the year and on occasion they cull animals to reduce their numbers, through shooting or live sale. When animals are shot, the meat is sold for food. Game capture units transport and sell live game. Permits are required for these operations.

Predator Control

Predator control is an issue around the globe.

Proven farm and livestock management techniques can be employed to deter predations from problem animals. One great example is CCF’s Livestock Guarding Dog program.

An animal usually resorts to killing livestock due to a medical problem, human influence or a natural incident which renders it unable to catch its wild prey. Only a cheetah that consistently hunts livestock should be considered a problem animal. It is critical to identify the individual culprit causing losses rather than remove all cheetahs indiscriminately. The opportunistic killing of inadequately protected livestock, such a new born calves in the bush, indicates poor livestock management which does not warrant the removal of the predator. Some farmers trap, poison and shoot cheetahs. This may not be due to livestock losses, but simply because the predator entered the farm and is perceived as a threat to livestock or family.

Predator control most commonly involves setting live capture cage traps. Farmers also use gin traps and poisoned carcasses. These methods only increase problems as they tend to lure and kill indiscriminately. Animals suffering as a result include ones which benefit the farmland ecosystem, as such pangolin, aardwolf, honey badger and bat eared fox.

The Farming Community

New methods of livestock and wildlife management are incorporated into agricultural practices to ensure a healthy ecosystem.

Mixed Farming - Wildlife and Livestock

Combining game and livestock farming holds many advantages for the farmer. A variety of game species helps to maintain a healthy farmland ecosystem by using all levels and forms of vegetation. When livestock prices are low, game animals can supplement the farmer’s income in the form of hunting, ecotourism or direct live sale. Game animals tolerate drought conditions better than livestock. They also act as a buffer reducing the occurrences of predation on livestock.

Conservancies

Cheetah Conservation Fund works with communal farmers and people living around the Greater Waterberg Landscape Conservancy. (Image credit: Cheetah Conservation Fund)

Conservancies are legally protected areas with shared common resources where conservation is actively practiced. Its purpose is to achieve a collective policy for the ownership, management and use of resources. Conservation is the management of human use of organisms or ecosystems to ensure that such use is sustainable. Conservancy objectives include the protection, maintenance, rehabilitation, restoration, and enhancement of ecosystems.

Conservancies retain all income from wildlife and tourism based enterprises within the conservancy and decides on how these fund are spent. Commercial conservancies consist of adjacent private farms joining together in common units. Communal conservancies operate on a local level and membership is made up entirely of community members who decide to work together for the sustainable management and use of wildlife and tourism.

Eco-tourism

Namibia has a reputation as the “Cheetah Capital of the World” and tourists come to see cheetah habitat and learn how cheetahs survive on farmland. Ecotourism focuses in animals, habitats, and places of conservation interest. Etosha National Park, the Namibia Desert and the Skeleton Coast are major attractions for foreign ecotourists. Lodges, guest farms, and commercial villages are points on Namibian ecotours. Many of these destinations promote cheetah conservation.

Sometime in the 2000s, the annual number of tourists visiting Namibia exceeded 500,000. Tourists spend money on transport, lodging, food and souvenirs. This is an important part of the economy and a supplement to agricultural income for many Namibians.

Cheetah Friendly Farming

Namibian farmers practice diverse farming activities that form part of the ecosystem. It is farmers, hunters, and game managers who will preserve Namibia’s precious ecosystem for future generations to enjoy.

There is no single solution to predator conflicts. Effective predator control and overall farm management requires a variety of integrated management strategies.

Smallstock practices

Kraaling smallstock at night enables monitoring and protection. Sturdy fencing or thorn branches must be tall enough to keep stock in and predators out.

Keeping a herder with smallstock during the day provides additional protection.

Shared practices

Herd management.

Predators such as cheetahs are opportunistic. Management strategies should aim to protect livestock when they are most vulnerable, particularly at night and during birthing seasons. Culling animals that fail to produce or consistently lose calves to predation increases herd production.

Seasonal births

Seasonal birthing allows intensive monitoring of the calving/lambing herds.

Synchronizing livestock births with wildlife calving seasons ensures sufficient natural prey when livestock are most vulnerable.

Wildlife-friendly farmers use four to five strands of non-barbed galvanized wires for interior livestock fencing. These low fences are not high and leave a large gap along the bottom to allow migration of wildlife through farmlands.

Guard animals

Losses are reduced by utilizing livestock guardians such as dogs for smallstock and donkeys for cattle. Guard animals need to be healthy and properly trained in order to be effective.

Cattle practices

Calving camps.

Close monitoring is made possible by locating calving camps near the homestead. This reduces losses to predation, accidents or other complications in the first few weeks of a calf’s life. Larger herd size also discourages predators.

Calves under three months of age and heifers (first-time mothers) are most vulnerable to predators. Closer monitoring will reduce losses.

Choose breeds that are more aggressive and allowing horns to grow on cows reduces losses to predators.

Bush Encroachment and Solutions

Bush encroachment.

Thickened thorn bush degrades entire habitat and poses problems for all species of animals in that habitat. (Image credit: Cheetah Conservation Fund)

One of the most serious environmental threats facing Namibia is bush encroachment. Approximately 14 million hectares of land (12% of Namibia) is now so badly encroached that neither man nor livestock can penetrate it.

Under natural conditions, the savannas are covered with grasslands, scattered trees and shrubs, supporting a wide variety of wildlife. Herbivores usually feed intensely in localized areas for short periods of time. Plants and trees experience brief and intense browsing and grazing pressure separated by extended rest periods. This, combined with regular fires, maintains a balance between trees and grasses. Larger animals like elephant and rhino aid in controlling the growth of bush.

How does Stock Farming Contribute to Bush Encroachment

Domestic livestock are primarily grazers. Farm fences prevent livestock from moving freely. If not properly managed, this results in overgrazing. This occurs when animals continue to graze and trampling the land on which they are kept, thus allowing little time for grass species to grow and seed. This leads to the gradual decline of grass species and allows the bush to grow out of control. The prevention of fires adds to bush encroachment.

Cheetah Survival in Bush Encroached Areas

Bush encroachment reduces carrying capacity for both livestock and game species. As bush encroachment increases, cheetahs must adopt their hunting techniques. Ambush tactics may replace the characteristic high-speed chase. Scientists are investigating a possible link between the increased occurrences of cheetah eye injuries and their hunting in bush encroached areas.

Bush Encroachment Threatens Cheetah Survival

Cheetahs face even more hardship in bush encroached territories. They have to adapt in every aspect of their life, such as hunting.

Cheetahs hunt in open or semi-open savanna using bursts of speed. But Namibia’s livestock farmlands, where 90% of the cheetahs live, are less desirable for the cheetahs and the farmers due to bush encroachment. Bush encroachment, a form of desertification, is caused from overgrazing of livestock on the arid lands and unpredictable and regular droughts.

The deep rooted thorn bushes reduce the water table and compete with the grasses and become a thicket, taking the underground water and causing desertification. Bush encroachment causes changes in habitats and the mix of prey species on the land.

The cheetah’s rangeland has been infested with undesirable thickened thorn bush species. Bush encroachment reduces the amount of grasslands and poses a major livelihood threat to Namibians, as well as to the cheetah and other wildlife species.

Cheetah Conservation Fund’s (CCF) Bush Project

CCF Bush (PTY) LTD, began in 2000, with the support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), to study and develop an ecologically and economically viable habitat restoration program. The goal of CCF Bush is to stimulate the development of a Namibian Biomass industry, thereby protecting the bush ecosystem, restoring wildlife habitat, improving farming productivity, creating employment opportunities and providing clean, renewable energy.

CCF harvests the thickened thorn bush, converting it into a clean-burning, biomass fuel log known as Bushblok ™. CCF has restored hundreds of hectares of savanna grasslands for livestock, wildlife and cheetahs to share. In 2006, CCF obtained Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, confirming that it manages forest resources responsibly and sustainably.

The Bushblok project objectives are:

• To enhance the long-term survival of the cheetah and other species by restoring the grasslands.
• To provide an alternative to over-exploiting native Namibian trees for firewood and charcoal.
• To encourage industries to use intruder bush as a raw material.
• To provide standards for bush harvesting, chipping, processing and packaging.
• To employ, train and empower disadvantaged Namibians.
• To supply Namibians and international markets with compacted fuel log products.

Bushblok is produced at CCF from the waste product of habitat restoration. (Image credit: Cheetah Conservation Fund)

Bushblok packaging for different markets. (Image credit: Cheetah Conservation Fund)

Environmental and biological researches provide powerful insights to conservationists in understanding the elements in an ecosystem, as well as answers to questions on how a particular species behave within that system. CCF’s researches provide crucial understanding in cheetah movement, diet, and behavioral patterns in various part of Namibia. These researches help CCF and other conservationists draw crucial decisions on conservation efforts and sustainable developments that benefit both Namibians, livestocks, wildlife, and the land.

Understanding Animal Movement

To understand how cheetahs use their habitat you must be able to identify individual animals and record their position periodically. Individual photos or distinctive collars would be useful if cheetahs were frequently sighted, but they are not. Trackers may note the spoor (tracks) of a particular cheetah at various places and estimates when they were made. This is difficult due to the large ranges they cover and the fact that individuals are hard to identify.

The preferred method to study cheetah movement is to radio-track individuals. A lightweight collar carrying a battery pack and a small transmitter is fitted around the cheetah’s neck. The scientist uses a receiver and a special directional antenna (either in the ground or from a plane) to pick up the cheetah’s signal. The receiver transmits the signal into beeps. Each collar’s transmitter has a different radio frequency so that many cheetahs can be located during one “radio-tracking session”.

Estimating population size is crucial in species conservation.

Conducting a repeatable and consistent census methodology for cheetahs has been a part of the Cheetah Conservation Fund’s (CCF’s) on-going research.

CCF’s researchers use spoor tracking, radio telemetry and camera trapping. These techniques are tested and compared to determine whether one technique produces better census result.

Radio Telemetry

CCF tracked cheetahs by airplane, as well as on the ground one to two times per week between 1992 and 2002. Today CCF uses satellite collars for tracking cheetahs.

Radio telemetry analysis was utilized as a comparative method to assess the precision of spoor tracking results.

Spoor Tracking

Spoor tracking data is collected monthly by driving specific routes.

Spoor frequency is calculated by dividing the total distance between the numbers of samples of fresh spoor.

Spoor density is calculated by dividing the number of fresh spoor between the total distances. Spoor tracking proved promising as a census technique as it displayed a positive relationship with the densities reported in the radio telemetry study.

Camera Trapping

Three study areas, each at 200 square kilometers are divided into grids. These areas combined are equal to the size of a cheetah’s home range area.

A camera trap location is allocated to the study areas; this takes periods of ground trothing in order to identify play trees and suitable farm roads where cameras can be placed.

Two heat sensor monitor cameras are used at each camera trap site in order for both sides of a cheetah to be captured - this allows for more accurate identification.

Using camera traps, CCF researchers are able to determine the amount of male and female cheetahs by individually identifying each of the cheetahs captured on camera. Analysis allows for an estimate of the population size within the study area.

After collecting and processing photos on computers, identification can begin.

Cheetah movement study with camera traps in the Greater Waterberg Conservancy. (Image credit: Cheetah Conservation Fund)

Before You Go

Modal title

• Forgot your password?

Please enter your email address below. We will send you a link to reset your password, along with instructions.

As we continue to navigate life through the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), we wish to keep Sanctuary's supporters and readers connected to recent news and articles. Sanctuary is therefore pleased to offer its April, May and June 2020 issues free of charge, online, for all those who register at this link.

Please check your email for your username and password, and login to our website to access our issues for free!

Photo: Cheetah Conservation Fund

The Science of Cheetah Conservation

First published in sanctuary asia , vol. 40 no. 11, november 2020.

Founded in 1990, the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), Namibia, is dedicated to the conservation of cheetahs and their ecosystems, working with government bodies and other stakeholders in the continent. CCF has been conducting research on cheetah translocations in the early 1990’s and have translocated over 100 cheetahs, both within Namibia and to help support populations in South Africa. CCF is providing support to India’s Cheetah project committee in its ambitious proposition to translocate cheetahs to India’s grasslands once again . Abinaya Kalyanasundaram speaks to Founder and Director, Dr. Laurie Marker, about cheetah conservation in Africa, translocation protocols and the potential of the project to save the species and India’s grasslands in one go. Excerpts follow:

How well does the cheetah currently fare in the global level?

According to the study “ Disappearing spots… ” published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), there are fewer than 7,100 cheetahs remaining in the world. CCF believes the number should be a little higher, so we say less than 7500. This accounts for young cheetahs and several micro-populations in Somalia, Somaliland, Djibouti and Eritrea that were not included in the PNAS study.

The cheetah is listed as vulnerable by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species with two subspecies, the Asiatic cheetah Acinonyx jubatus venaticus and the Northwest African cheetah Acinonyx jubatus hecki listed as critically endangered. The cheetah’s historical distribution in African covered a substantial portion of the continent, but as a result of range contraction in the last century, the cheetah is found in only 9 per cent of its historic range, of which 77 per cent is outside of protected areas. Acinonyx jubatus jubatus is the southern African cheetah, and its range includes a five-country polygon of Namibia, Botswana, South African, Zimbabwe and Angola. This is the largest population of wild cheetahs in the world. Smaller, fragmented populations of Acinonyx jubatus soemerengii , the East African cheetah, or Somali cheetah, are found in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa countries, although their numbers have never been officially recorded.

The species is nearly extinct in its entire Asian range, with the exception of a remnant population in Iran, about 50 individuals or less.

Considering the proposal to relocate cheetahs to India, what aspects make a habitat suitable enough for cheetahs to survive? How much space would these animals need?

Our research shows that cheetahs require huge territories for home range, of about 1500 sq.km.

It is imperative that the threats responsible for the initial removal of cheetahs at potential release sites be addressed, or plans are in place to mitigate the threat. A habitat suitability study should be conducted to ensure there is sufficient vegetation to support viable prey populations to sustain the introduced cheetahs for the long term. The reintroduced population needs to be protected from anthropogenic threats, and the potential impact of unnaturally high inter and intraspecific competition needs to be managed.

Due to the cheetah’s large home ranges and tendency to occur in low densities, release sites need to be part of a larger suitable landscape or else metapopulation management becomes necessary.

Subtle characteristics such as adequate prey, prey species diversity, inter-specific large predator relations and human wildlife conflict will affect the reintroductions but the chances for success are in favor of the cheetah. The Kuno sanctuary offers promising suitable habitat such as the open woodlands and grasslands, which cheetahs favor for hunting. If the location is carefully selected – this is the job of the team in India – choose areas where chances for conflict is less high. In my report, I mention that surveys, conducted by Dr. M.K. Ranjitsinh and Jhala (2010) from the Wildlife Trust of India and the Wildlife Institute of India, identified a total of 10 potential sites for cheetah reintroductions and provided recommendations pertaining to each site. After conducting surveys in the areas, the WII short-listed three sites, Shargarh area in Rajastan, Kuno Palpur and Nauradehi Sanctuaries in Madhya Pradesh as possible habitats. In the areas I saw there was plenty of prey – prey density is a consideration – but this would need to be assessed again currently.

What could such an ambitious cheetah relocation achieve?

Cheetahs help maintain the grassland ecosystems which are critically endangered in India, and India is home to the largest free-roaming populations of livestock. The

National Forest Commission of Government of India also strongly recommends further protection of grasslands and associated flagship species. Among large carnivores, cheetah are likely to present the lowest level of conflict with human interests, as they are not a threat to human life and are most unlikely to predate large livestock.

Bringing back a top predator restores historic evolutionary balance, which leads to: a) Better management and restoration of cheetah habitat (grasslands, scrublands and open forest ecosystems), b) Conservation of cheetah’s prey and sympatric endangered species c) A top-down effect of a large predator that enhances and maintains the diversity in lower trophic levels of the ecosystems.

In the effort to reintroduce the cheetah in India, we aim to achieve both the biological objectives i.e. re-establish the ecosystem function role of the cheetah in representative areas of its former range, and contribute to the global effort towards the conservation of the endangered cheetah as a species as well as preserve its genetic diversity.

Would you know how and when the African and Asiatic cheetah diversified into separate subspecies?

The time of divergence between A. j. venaticus and A.j. jubatus was estimated at 4,700 – 67,400 years ago. The extent of the separation of A.j. venaticus from the African subspecies was not clear-cut. mtDNA data placed the split between A.j. jubatus and A. j. venaticus slightly more recently than that of A.j. jubatus and A.j. soemerengii , while microsatellite data suggested that the divergence with A.j. soemmerengii was the more recent event. It is important to keep in mind that divergence values between A.j. venaticus and the other subspecies could have been stochastically increased due to a postulated recent bottleneck in A.j. venaticus.

O’Brien et al (2017) estimates a time of divergence between A.j. venaticus and A.j. jubatus of approximately 6,500 year ago.

Would African cheetahs be able to adapt to Indian climatic conditions?

Cheetahs were at one time found throughout India, so they will be able to survive the climate conditions again now upon introduction. In the parts of Africa where cheetah are found, the temperatures can vary between very, very hot in the day to cold at night, and cheetahs can adapt to the seasonal shifts. They also contend with extreme rain and wet seasons in Africa, much like in India. Cheetahs do well in open savannahs and grassland environments, which they need for hunting. Cheetahs also benefit from high grass areas or bush areas that enable them to remain undetected while stalking prey. The habitat of the site in India will be an important consideration.

What are the factors to be considered for translocation success and individual survival?

Evaluating the success of cheetah translocations is complicated. The outcomes of many incidences are unpublished and those that are published potentially suffer from positive publication bias. Successes are more likely to be published than failures.

Success is generally based on reproductive success, but programs often use different definitions of this term. A meta-analysis of documented cheetah translocations determined that at least 727 cheetahs were translocated into 64 sites in southern Africa between1965 and 2010. Six of the 64 release sites were considered successful based on natural recruitment (births) exceeding adult mortality three years after introductions began. In many of the other projects, the number of cheetahs released was small and long-term monitoring was not conducted. If such long-term monitoring had been implanted and documented, additional sites might have been deemed successful.

The principal factor associated with reproductive success in a carnivore translocation program is the suitability of the release site for the target species, and in the case of free-range releases, the suitability of the surrounding area. Important characteristics of the release site include habitat and prey availability, the potential for intra and interspecific competition, and the animal’s ability to leave the site.

Can you provide examples of past cheetah translocations CCF has carried out?

In Namibia CCF began research on translocations in the early 1990’s and have translocated over 100 cheetahs in Namibia both within Namibia and to help support populations in South Africa. Our rehabilitation research began in 2005 and since then, we have rehabilitated over 60 orphan cheetahs in Namibia. Our research has provided a way forward for reintroductions.

The first translocated cheetahs in Namibia were released into fenced and unfenced nationally protected areas in the 1960s and 1970s in South Africa, to reintroduce or reinforce existing populations. Legislation passed in South African in the 1960s returned the right to utilize wildlife to landowners, paving the way for the development of private game reserves. In 1991, landowners in South Africa began stocking private reserves with cheetahs for tourism purposes, and cheetah translocations intensified during the mid 1990’s to mid-2000’s.

A trial conflict mitigation method, a compensation-relocation program was carried out in South African between 2000 and 2006. Cheetahs perceived to be predating on livestock were captured by landowners and relocated to private reserves and national parks. But vacant territories encourage immigration of new individuals, which may increase human- wildlife conflict. Removing predators is counterproductive to encouraging landowners to coexist with large carnivores, and the impact of repeated removals on wild populations was the primary reason for suspending this program in South Africa.

What are the safety protocols in place for cheetah translocations?

I drafted an action plan that outlines the logistical steps of bringing an initial small group of male and female cheetahs from southern Africa or other such place with cheetahs that could begin the reintroductions. The animals would first be placed in a one to two hectare, fenced holding area for inspection, where they would be fitted with satellite collars. The collars will enable scientists to track their movements and monitor their health status. After a short stay, they would be released into a larger enclosure, to become familiar with their new environment, where they would remain for two weeks to a month before being released into the sanctuary. Their movements would be monitored by research teams, and if an individual strays too far afield, the animal would be brought back into the sanctuary. The action plan also details instructions on feeding and care, and an assessment of breeding expectations.

Elaborate on the human-cheetah conflict situation in Africa, and how one can plan to avoid the same in India.

Habitat loss along with loss of prey base directly threaten the cheetah’s existence, and they are also drivers of predation and farmer-carnivore conflict. Conservation organizations are often under pressure to translocate cheetahs that are believed to be responsible for livestock depredation, to prevent them from being killed, and as such, translocation is often considered a human method of conflict mitigation. However, the demand for cheetah removal outweighs the availability of suitable introduction sites and resources. A a result, the majority of cheetahs captured due to perceived or actual depredation on livestock have been relocated within existing cheetah populations, without clear reintroduction aims. These translocations, although potentially promoting gene flow and survival of individuals, cannot be viewed as “conservation translocations” as their benefit is largely restricted to individuals rather than populations.

To mitigate conflict between livestock farmers and reintroduced cheetahs in India, sustainable tourism should be promoted so that jobs and business opportunities for the local communities can be created. India can simultaneously boost its local economies and ensure its cheetah introduction is successful by taking this approach.

It is very important that enthusiastic and committed rangers and veterinarians be selected for the project. Through proper training, these persons will become India’s cheetah experts and be central to the success of the project. They will work with farmers to mitigate conflict.

How will CCF be supporting the Indian project committee? What is your opinon on the potential of the project.

Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) has offered to assist a committee of conservation experts appointed by the Supreme Court of India on a pilot programme to introduce the African cheetah to the landscape of India. While the country had long been part of the Asiatic cheetah’s historic range, the critically endangered sub-species, Acinonyx jubatus venaticus, was determined to have gone locally extinct in the early 1950’s.

The project is moving forward with assessments of key areas under consideration. Surveys to establish the prey base will begin once the wet season ends

I visited in 2010 to begin this project with a first assessment. I visited again this year in February, just ahead of the first pandemic lockdowns. I met with officials from the government of India and from local organizations that will be spearheading the project. CCF will play a supporting role, helping the team in India manage this process of reintroduction and looking after the welfare of the cheetahs involved in the reintroduction.

We are excited about the project and the hope it provides for long-term cheetah survival. Introduction will be a long process, but we know that our colleagues in India are up for the challenge. The potential for bringing the cheetah back into the wild, to allow the endangered grasslands and various other endangered species living on these grasslands to prosper, will be very worthwhile.

• "Is Realism Helpful?"
• A Glimpse Into The Amphibian World
• A Thousand Voices From the Field

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.

• Knowledge Base
• How to Write a Thesis Statement | 4 Steps & Examples

How to Write a Thesis Statement | 4 Steps & Examples

Published on January 11, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on August 15, 2023 by Eoghan Ryan.

A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . It usually comes near the end of your introduction .

Your thesis will look a bit different depending on the type of essay you’re writing. But the thesis statement should always clearly state the main idea you want to get across. Everything else in your essay should relate back to this idea.

You can write your thesis statement by following four simple steps:

• Start with a question
• Write your initial answer
• Develop your answer
• Refine your thesis statement

Instantly correct all language mistakes in your text

Upload your document to correct all your mistakes in minutes

Table of contents

What is a thesis statement, placement of the thesis statement, step 1: start with a question, step 2: write your initial answer, step 3: develop your answer, step 4: refine your thesis statement, types of thesis statements, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about thesis statements.

A thesis statement summarizes the central points of your essay. It is a signpost telling the reader what the essay will argue and why.

The best thesis statements are:

• Concise: A good thesis statement is short and sweet—don’t use more words than necessary. State your point clearly and directly in one or two sentences.
• Contentious: Your thesis shouldn’t be a simple statement of fact that everyone already knows. A good thesis statement is a claim that requires further evidence or analysis to back it up.
• Coherent: Everything mentioned in your thesis statement must be supported and explained in the rest of your paper.

Receive feedback on language, structure, and formatting

Professional editors proofread and edit your paper by focusing on:

• Academic style
• Vague sentences
• Style consistency

See an example

The thesis statement generally appears at the end of your essay introduction or research paper introduction .

The spread of the internet has had a world-changing effect, not least on the world of education. The use of the internet in academic contexts and among young people more generally is hotly debated. For many who did not grow up with this technology, its effects seem alarming and potentially harmful. This concern, while understandable, is misguided. The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its many benefits for education: the internet facilitates easier access to information, exposure to different perspectives, and a flexible learning environment for both students and teachers.

You should come up with an initial thesis, sometimes called a working thesis , early in the writing process . As soon as you’ve decided on your essay topic , you need to work out what you want to say about it—a clear thesis will give your essay direction and structure.

You might already have a question in your assignment, but if not, try to come up with your own. What would you like to find out or decide about your topic?

For example, you might ask:

After some initial research, you can formulate a tentative answer to this question. At this stage it can be simple, and it should guide the research process and writing process .

Here's why students love Scribbr's proofreading services

Discover proofreading & editing

Now you need to consider why this is your answer and how you will convince your reader to agree with you. As you read more about your topic and begin writing, your answer should get more detailed.

In your essay about the internet and education, the thesis states your position and sketches out the key arguments you’ll use to support it.

The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its many benefits for education because it facilitates easier access to information.

In your essay about braille, the thesis statement summarizes the key historical development that you’ll explain.

The invention of braille in the 19th century transformed the lives of blind people, allowing them to participate more actively in public life.

A strong thesis statement should tell the reader:

• Why you hold this position
• What they’ll learn from your essay
• The key points of your argument or narrative

The final thesis statement doesn’t just state your position, but summarizes your overall argument or the entire topic you’re going to explain. To strengthen a weak thesis statement, it can help to consider the broader context of your topic.

These examples are more specific and show that you’ll explore your topic in depth.

Your thesis statement should match the goals of your essay, which vary depending on the type of essay you’re writing:

• In an argumentative essay , your thesis statement should take a strong position. Your aim in the essay is to convince your reader of this thesis based on evidence and logical reasoning.
• In an expository essay , you’ll aim to explain the facts of a topic or process. Your thesis statement doesn’t have to include a strong opinion in this case, but it should clearly state the central point you want to make, and mention the key elements you’ll explain.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

• Ad hominem fallacy
• Post hoc fallacy
• Appeal to authority fallacy
• False cause fallacy
• Sunk cost fallacy

College essays

• Choosing Essay Topic
• Write a College Essay
• Write a Diversity Essay
• College Essay Format & Structure
• Comparing and Contrasting in an Essay

 (AI) Tools

• Grammar Checker
• Paraphrasing Tool
• Text Summarizer
• AI Detector
• Plagiarism Checker
• Citation Generator

A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.

The thesis statement is essential in any academic essay or research paper for two main reasons:

• It gives your writing direction and focus.
• It gives the reader a concise summary of your main point.

Without a clear thesis statement, an essay can end up rambling and unfocused, leaving your reader unsure of exactly what you want to say.

Follow these four steps to come up with a thesis statement :

• Ask a question about your topic .
• Write your initial answer.
• Develop your answer by including reasons.
• Refine your answer, adding more detail and nuance.

The thesis statement should be placed at the end of your essay introduction .

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

McCombes, S. (2023, August 15). How to Write a Thesis Statement | 4 Steps & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved June 9, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/academic-essay/thesis-statement/

Is this article helpful?

Shona McCombes

Other students also liked, how to write an essay introduction | 4 steps & examples, how to write topic sentences | 4 steps, examples & purpose, academic paragraph structure | step-by-step guide & examples, "i thought ai proofreading was useless but..".

I've been using Scribbr for years now and I know it's a service that won't disappoint. It does a good job spotting mistakes”

Keep up with the cheetahs Join our mailing list

About Cheetahs

The cheetah’s wild life.

There are three stages in the life cycle of the cheetah: cub (birth to 18 months), adolescence (18 to 24 months) and adult life (24 months and on).

The gestation (pregnancy) period for the cheetah is 93 days, and litters range in size from one or two up to six cubs (the occasional litter of eight cubs has been recorded, but it is rare). Cub mortality is higher in protected areas like national parks and wildlife reserves where proximity to large predators is greater than in non-protected areas. In such areas, the cheetah cub mortality can be as high as 90%.

Adult life for a cheetah in the wild is difficult. Cheetahs in the wild (both male and female combined) have an average age span of 10 – 12 years. The average lifespan of an adult male in the wild skews lower (8 years), due in part to territorial conflicts with competing groups of males. Adult mortality is one of the most significant limiting factors for the growth and survival of the wild cheetah population.

Threats to the Cheetah

Captive Population Info

Physical Characteristics of Adult Cheetahs

Adult cheetahs’ weight averages between 75 and 125 pounds. They can measure from 40 to 60 inches in length, measured from the head to the hind quarters. The tail can add a further 24 to 32 inches bringing the total overall length up to 7.5 feet. On average, cheetahs stand 28 to 36 inches tall at the shoulder.

The cheetah is a sexually dimorphic species though it is difficult to identify cheetahs’ sex by appearance alone. Male cheetahs are slightly bigger than females and they have larger heads, but they do not display the same degree of physical difference between the sexes of other big cat species like lions.

Cheetahs have a thin frame with a narrow waist and deep chest. They have large nostrils that allow for increased oxygen intake. Cheetahs have a large lungs and hearts connected to a circulatory system with strong arteries and adrenals that work in tandem to circulate oxygen through their blood very efficiently.

With its long legs and very slender body, the cheetah is quite different from all other cats and is the only member of its genus, Acinonyx. The cheetah’s unique morphology and physiology allow it to attain the extreme speeds for which it’s famous.

The cheetah’s undercoat ranges in color from light tan to a deep gold and is marked by solid black spots. These spots are not open like the rosettes found on a leopard or jaguar’s coat, which is one way to quickly identify the cheetah.

Distinctive black tear stripes run from the eyes to the mouth. The stripes are thought to protect the eyes from the sun’s glare. It is believed that they have the same function as a rifle scope, helping cheetahs focus on their prey at a long distance range by minimizing the glare of the sun.

Cheetah tails end with a bushy tuft encircled by five or six dark rings. These markings provide them with excellent camouflage while hunting and make them more difficult for other predators to detect. The tail is also thought to be a signaling device, helping young cubs follow their mothers in tall grass. The tip of the tail varies in color from white to black among individuals.

Built for Speed

The cheetah is the world’s fastest land animal and Africa’s most endangered big cat. Uniquely adapted for speed, the cheetah is capable of reaching speeds greater than 110 kilometers per hour in just over three seconds. At top speed, their stride is seven meters long. The cheetah’s unique body structure: flexible spine, semi-retractable claws, long legs and tail allow it to achieve the unbelievable top speed of 110 km/hr (70 mph). The cheetah’s body is narrow and lightweight with long slender limbs. Specialized muscles allow for a greater swing to the limbs increasing acceleration.

Cheetahs’ foot pads are hard and less rounded than the other cats. The pads function like tire treads providing them with increased traction in fast, sharp turns. The short blunt claws, which are considered semi-retractable, are closer to that of a dog than of other cats. The claws work like the cleats of a track shoe to grip the ground for traction when running to help increase speed.

Fast and Flexible

The flexibility of the cheetah’s spine is unique. The cheetah’s long muscular tail works like a rudder, stabilizing, and acting as a counterbalance to its body weight. Swinging the tail back and forth continually adjusting to the movement of prey allows for sudden sharp turns during high speed chases. The cheetah’s shoulder blade does not attach to the collar bone, thus allowing the shoulders to move freely.

The hips pivot to allow the rear legs to stretch far apart when the body is fully extended. The hip and shoulder extension allows for a large range of extension during running, thus making both its exceptional stride length. The length between their steps is six to seven meters (21 ft) and four strides are completed per second. There are two times in one stride when the cheetah’s body is completely off the ground: once when all four legs are extended and once when all four legs are bunched under the body.

Cheetah Cubs

At birth, the cubs weigh 8.5 to 15 ounces and are blind and helpless. Their mother will groom them patiently, purring quietly and providing them warmth and security. After a day or so, the mother will leave the cubs to hunt for herself, so she can continue to care for the cubs. This is the most vulnerable time for the cubs, as they are left unprotected. They will live in a secluded nest until they are about six to eight weeks old, being regularly moved by their mother from nest to nest to avoid detection by predators. The mother will care for her cubs on her own for the next year and a half.

At about six weeks of age

The cubs begin following their mother on her daily travels as she is looking for prey. During these first few months she cannot move far or fast and cub mortality is highest. Fewer than one in 10 cubs will survive during this time, as they perish from predation by other large predators such as lions and hyenas, or from injuries. This is the time when life skills are taught.

Cheetah cubs have a thick silvery-grey mantle down their back. The mantle helps camouflage the cubs by imitating the look of an aggressive animal called a honey badger. This mimicry may help deter predators such as lions, hyenas, and eagles from attempting to kill them. Cubs lose their mantle at about three months of age.

Between four to six months of age

Cheetah cubs are very active and playful. Trees provide good observation points and allow for development of skills in balancing. The cubs’ semi non-retractable claws are sharper at this age and help them grip the tall ‘playtrees’ they climb with their siblings. Learning to hunt is the most critical survival skill that the cubs will develop. At one year of age, cheetah cubs participate in hunts with their mother.

At about 18 months of age

The mother and cubs will finally separate. Although not fully adept at hunting on their own, independent male and female cubs will stick together for a few more months to master their hunting skills. When the adolescent females begin cycling, dominant males will court them and drive their brothers away.

Male Coalitions

As the female siblings become sexually mature they will split from the group to lead a largely independent life. Male siblings remain together for the rest of their lives, forming a group known as a coalition. Coalitions increase hunting success and act as a defense against other predators.

When the split from sisters occurs, the males will roam until they can find and defend a territory. This process can take a few years and males may travel hundreds of miles, being moved out of one area to another, pushed on by more experienced male coalitions. Eventually, the group will find a place where they can settle. This will become the coalition’s territory and could span 15 to 30 square miles.

Cheetahs that become orphaned at a young age, and are brought into a rehabilitation situation, can be paired with non-related individuals to form a coalition. When these cheetahs are released back into the wild, the created coalitions will often remain intact throughout the life of the individuals.

Females lead solitary lives unless they are accompanied by their cubs. Unlike male cheetahs that prefer to live in set territories with their coalition, females travel within “home ranges” that overlap multiple male groups’ territories. Female cheetah home ranges depend on the distribution of prey. If prey is roaming and widespread, females will have larger ranges.

Estrus in female cheetahs is not predictable or regular. This is one of the reasons why it is difficult to breed cheetahs in captivity. Mating receptivity depends on environmental factors that, researchers have found, are triggered by the proximity of males and their scent markings. Estrus lasts up to 14 days and females will mate with multiple males during this time period. Male cheetahs that encounter a female cheetah in estrus will stay with her and mate up to three days and at intervals throughout the day. When it comes to mating, there are no dominant males within the coalition that claim exclusive access to females. All males within a coalition will mate.

Genetic Diversity

During the last Ice Age the world’s population of cheetahs plummeted to just a handful of individuals. This event caused an extreme reduction of the cheetah’s genetic diversity, known as a population bottleneck, resulting in the physical homogeneity of the species’ current population. Cheetahs are so genetically similar that in experiments, reciprocal skin grafts from unrelated cheetahs were accepted by the other’s immune system due to the animals having similar major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genotypes.

Researchers have discovered that suitable levels of genetic diversity are vital to any population’s ability to adapt and overcome environmental changes and unexpected disasters. Unsustainable human expansion and irresponsible consumption can cause pressure on ecosystems worldwide. Population research has shown that when habitat is destroyed and populations become fragmented and isolated, the rate of inbreeding increases and the genetic diversity lowers.

Physiological impairments such as: poor sperm quality, focal palatine erosion, susceptibility to infectious diseases, and kinked tails are a result of low genetic diversity within both the wild and captive cheetah population.

Cheetahs are visual hunters. Unlike other big cats cheetahs are diurnal, meaning they hunt in early morning and late afternoon. Cheetahs climb ‘playtrees’ or termite mounds to get an optimal vantage point for spotting prey against the horizon. The hunt has several components. It includes prey detection, stalking, the chase, tripping (or prey capture), and killing by means of a suffocation bite to the throat.

Diet and Eating

The prey species on which the cheetah depends have evolved speed and avoidance techniques that can keep them just out of reach. Cheetahs prey includes: gazelles (especially Thomson’s gazelles), impalas and other small to medium-sized antelopes, hares, birds, and rodents. Cheetahs will also prey on the calves of larger herd animals.

Cheetahs generally prefer to prey upon wild species and avoid hunting domestic livestock. The exception happening in sick, injured and either old or young and inexperienced cheetahs. Generally, the livestock animals that are lost to predation by cheetahs are also sick, injured and old/young. Keeping livestock in kraals and utilizing non-lethal means of protection can dramatically reduce livestock predation.

While cheetahs can reach remarkable speeds, they cannot sustain a high speed chase for very long. They must catch their prey in 30 seconds or less as they cannot maintain maximum speeds for much longer. Cheetahs spend most of their time sleeping and they are minimally active during the hottest portions of the day. They prefer shady spots and will sleep under the protection of large shady trees. Cheetahs do not hunt at night, they are most active during the morning and evening hours.

Role in the Ecosystem

The cheetah serves a special role in its ecosystem. Cheetahs are one of the most successful hunters on the savanna but their kills are very often stolen by larger carnivores or predators that hunt in groups. Predators play an important role in any ecosystem. They keep prey species healthy by killing the weak and old individuals. They also act as a population check which helps plants-life by preventing overgrazing. Without predators like the cheetah, the savanna ecosystem in Namibia would be very different and the current ecological trend toward desertification would be accelerated.

Vocalizations

Unlike other “big cats”, a classification that includes: lions, tigers, leopards, and jaguars) cheetahs don’t roar. They growl when facing danger, and they vocalize with sounds more equivalent to a high-pitched chirp or bubble and they bark when communicating with each other. The cheetah can also purr while both inhaling and exhaling.

Moan/Spit https://cheetah.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/03-moan-spitting.wav

Chirping https://cheetah.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/shachirp3.wav

Growling https://cheetah.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/cheetahgrowl.wav

Growl/Chirp https://cheetah.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/02-growls-chirps.wav

Species Then and Now

Relatives of the modern cheetah had worldwide distribution until about 20,000 years ago, when the world’s environment underwent dramatic changes during the Great Ice Age. Only a handful of individuals remained.

The population of cheetahs rebounded. Up until ~10,000 years ago their range spread across the entire African continent (minus the Congo Basin and the Sahara Desert) and into Asia from the Arabian Peninsula to eastern India. Today, cheetahs are found in only 9% of their historic range and are functionally extinct. Once found throughout Asia and Africa, today there are fewer than 7,100 adult and adolescent cheetahs in the wild.

Protected Status

Currently, cheetahs are listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. In Namibia, they are a protected species. Under the Endangered Species Act in the United States, they are considered Endangered. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) lists them as an Appendix 1 species. Most wild cheetahs exist in fragmented populations in pockets of Africa, occupying a mere 9 percent of their historic range. In Iran, fewer than 50 Asiatic cheetahs (a sub-species) remain.

The largest single population of cheetahs occupies a six-country polygon that spans Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Angola, Mozambique and Zambia. Namibia has the largest number of individuals of any country, earning it the nickname, “The Cheetah Capital of the World.” More than 75 percent of remaining wild cheetahs live on rural farmlands alongside human communities.

Cheetahs in Captivity

In captivity cheetahs can live from 17 – 20 years. In countries across Africa, like Namibia, it is illegal to capture and take live cheetahs from the wild. Also in the majority of African countries, like Namibia, it is illegal to keep cheetahs under private ownership or as pets. Cheetah Conservation Fund and other Africa-based NGOs keep populations of injured or orphaned animals in captivity as part of rehabilitation and rewilding efforts.

Suitability for release is dependent on:

• the age of the individuals when they became orphaned
• the degree to which human intervention was required for their survival

Very young and extremely ill animals will have greater degrees of contact with human caretakers. Survival in the wild depends on an aversion to humans and avoidance of human populations. Cheetahs that require hand-rearing and prolonged medical treatment do not possess an adequate fear of humans for life in the wild, especially when their territories are increasingly likely to be shared by human settlements.

Zoos and Conservation

Accredited zoos around the world participate in captive breeding programs that track the genetic suitability for mating pairs. Accreditation criteria differs between accrediting organizations. Accreditation in most cases requires that zoos holding captive cheetahs must support conservation work. Cheetah Conservation Fund lists the zoos that fund our conservation work here .

Cheetah Conservation Fund manages the International Cheetah Studbook for captive cheetah populations.

Specialized Conservation Needs

As with all other species fighting extinction, the problem facing the cheetah is complex and multifaceted. However, most of the reasons for the cheetah’s endangerment can be grouped into three overarching categories:

• human-wildlife conflict,
• loss of habitat and loss of prey,
• poaching and illegal wildlife trafficking, with cubs being taken from the Horn of Africa and smuggled into the exotic pet trade, primarily in the Gulf States.

Human-Wildlife Conflict

Unlike other large cats and pack predators, cheetahs do not do well in wildlife reserves. These areas normally contain high densities of other larger predators like the lion, leopard, and hyena. Predators such as these, compete with cheetahs for prey and will even kill cheetahs given the opportunity. In such areas, the cheetah cub mortality can be as high as 90%. Therefore, roughly 90% of cheetahs in Africa live outside of protected lands on private farmlands and thus often come into conflict with people.

When a predator threatens a farmer’s livestock, they also threaten the farmer’s livelihood. Farmers act quickly to protect their resources, often trapping or shooting the cheetah. Because cheetahs hunt more during the day, they are seen more often than the nocturnal predators which contributes to a higher rate of persecution on the cheetah.

Human-wildlife conflict

Learn more about CCF’s efforts to mitigate human-wildlife conflict

Habitat Loss

Cheetahs require vast expanses of land with suitable prey, water, and cover sources to survive. As wild lands are destroyed and fragmented by the human expansion occurring all over the world, the cheetah’s available habitat is also destroyed. Available habitat is fragmented, and degraded reducing the number of animals an area can support. Numerous landscapes across Africa that could once support thousands of cheetahs now struggle to support just a handful.

Learn more about CCF’s efforts to prevent and mitigate habitat loss.

Illegal Wildlife Trade

In many parts of the world there are strong cultural associations to keeping cheetahs as companions. There is a long history of the practice and it is commonly seen in ancient art.

In contemporary times, cheetahs are still viewed as status symbols. Though cheetah ownership and exotic pet ownership has been outlawed in many countries, there is still a high demand for cheetahs as pets. Cubs are illegally captured from the wild and only one in six survives the journey to a potential buyer.

Learn more about CCF’s efforts to end the illegal trade in cheetahs across the species range.

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• v.8(15); 2018 Aug

Living on the edge: Multiscale habitat selection by cheetahs in a human‐wildlife landscape

Britt klaassen.

1 Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

Femke Broekhuis

2 Kenya Wildlife Trust, Nairobi, Kenya

3 Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, Recanati‐Kaplan Centre, University of Oxford, Tubney, UK

Associated Data

Data points with their extracted values for the three anthropogenic and five environmental variables for the six scales are available from the Dryad Digital Repository: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.8t0m6v7 .

Animals select habitats that will ultimately optimize their fitness through access to favorable resources, such as food, mates, and breeding sites. However, access to these resources may be limited by bottom‐up effects, such as availability, and top‐down effects, such as risk avoidance and competition, including that with humans. Competition between wildlife and people over resources, specifically over space, has played a significant role in the worldwide decrease in large carnivores. The goal of this study was to determine the habitat selection of cheetahs ( Acinonyx jubatus ) in a human‐wildlife landscape at multiple spatial scales. Cheetahs are a wide‐ranging, large carnivore, whose significant decline is largely attributed to habitat loss and fragmentation. It is believed that 77% of the global cheetah population ranges outside protected areas, yet little is known about cheetahs’ resource use in areas where they co‐occur with people. The selection, or avoidance, of three anthropogenic variables (human footprint density, distance to main roads and wildlife areas) and five environmental variables (open habitat, semiclosed habitat, edge density, patch density and slope), at multiple spatial scales, was determined by analyzing collar data from six cheetahs. Cheetahs selected variables at different scales; anthropogenic variables were selected at broader scales (720–1440 m) than environmental variables (90–180 m), suggesting that anthropogenic pressures affect habitat selection at a home‐range level, whilst environmental variables influence site‐level habitat selection. Cheetah presence was best explained by human presence, wildlife areas, semiclosed habitat, edge density and slope. Cheetahs showed avoidance for humans and steep slopes and selected for wildlife areas and areas with high proportions of semiclosed habitat and edge density. Understanding a species’ resource requirements, and how these might be affected by humans, is crucial for conservation. Using a multiscale approach, we provide new insights into the habitat selection of a large carnivore living in a human‐wildlife landscape.

1. INTRODUCTION

Habitat is a selection of biotic and abiotic factors that provide a space for a species to live (Kearney, 2006 ). Animals will ideally select habitats that maximize their fitness, whereby longevity and reproduction are increased, by optimizing access to food, mates, and other resources (Orians & Wittenberger, 1991 ). However, access to favorable resources may be limited by bottom‐up effects, such as resource availability, and top‐down effects, such as risk avoidance and competition. Competition can be between individuals within the same species (intraspecific competition), or between different species needing the same resources (interspecific competition; Kacelnik, Krebs, & Bernstein, 1992 ; Keddy, 2001 ). Interspecific competition includes that between wildlife and humans. Numerous studies have shown that human presence can influence species’ distribution and behavior, with the possibility of excluding them from key resources. This has resulted in the decline and range contraction of many mammalian species (Ogutu, Owen‐Smith, Piepho, & Said, 2011 ; Ripple et al., 2014 , 2015 ). The decline in large carnivore populations and geographic range, for example, are negatively correlated with human densities due to habitat loss and degradation, persecution and depletion of prey (Ripple et al., 2014 ; Woodroffe, 2000 ). However, carnivores can reside in human landscapes, be it at lower densities than in wildlife areas as a result of human‐wildlife conflict (Inskip & Zimmermann, 2009 ). In some cases carnivores might even be attracted to human landscapes because of the availability of domestic and wild prey (Khorozyan, Ghoddousi, Soofi, & Waltert, 2015 ; Linnell et al., 2005 ) and anthropogenic food sources (Cozzi et al., 2016 ), or because it acts as a refuge from competitors (van der Meer, Fritz, Blinston, & Rasmussen, 2014 ). As the global human population continues to increase, it is crucial to understand if, and how, carnivores and people can coexist (Carter & Linnell, 2016 ; Oriol‐Cotterill, Macdonald, Valeix, Ekwanga, & Frank, 2015 ). One approach is by determining the anthropogenic and environmental drivers that influence the habitat selection of carnivores in landscapes where they co‐occur with people.

Habitat selection studies often use a single scale approach, however, there is increasing evidence that biological, ecological, and geographical processes occur at different spatial scales (Cushman & Huettmann, 2010 ). For example, Timm, McGarigal, Cushman, and Ganey ( 2016 ) assessed a multiscale habitat selection for nesting and roosting areas of Mexican spotted owl ( Strix occidentalis lucida ) and compared this to a single scale habitat selection. They found that the multiscale habitat selection model outperformed the single scale model. Individuals may first select their area of use, i.e. home‐range, which is followed by selection for different resources, such as food, within this home‐range. In other words, factors important for home‐range selection may be selected on a broad scale, whereas resources may be selected on a fine scale (Boyce, 2018 ). Thus, taking multiple scales into consideration is necessary in order to accurately describe species–habitat relationships (Cushman & McGarigal, 2004 ), yet multiscale habitat selection studies of terrestrial carnivores are still uncommon (but see Cushman, Elliot, Macdonald, & Loveridge, 2016 ; Elliot, Cushman, Macdonald, & Loveridge, 2014 ).

Here we investigate the multiscale habitat selection of cheetahs ( Acinonyx jubatus ) in a landscape where they co‐occur with people. Cheetahs are a wide‐ranging, large carnivore whose significant population decline has largely been attributed to habitat loss and fragmentation. As a result, cheetahs have disappeared from 91% of their historic range with a current population standing at only ~7,100 wild individuals (Durant et al., 2017 ). For a cheetah population to be viable it needs a contiguous area of approximately 4,000–8,000 km 2 of suitable habitat (Durant, Bashir, Maddox, & Laurenson, 2007 ), yet very few protected areas in Africa are larger than 4,000 km 2 (Durant et al., 2017 ). As a result, 77% of the global cheetah population is believed to range outside protected areas (Durant et al., 2017 ). Despite this, cheetahs’ resource selection within landscapes where they co‐occur with people is still poorly understood. This is mainly because previous habitat selection studies have been conducted in fenced wildlife areas or in areas where the human population density is low, and therefore encounters with people, other than tourists, are minimal (e.g., Bissett & Bernard, 2007 ; Broomhall, Mills, & Toit, 2003 ; Broekhuis, Cozzi, Valeix, McNutt, & Macdonald, 2013 ; Pettorelli, Hilborn, Broekhuis, & Durant, 2009 ; Welch, Bissett, Perry, & Parker, 2015 ). These studies have however found that certain environmental factors, such as vegetation and habitat structure, influence cheetahs’ fitness, as it can affect hunting success (Mills, Broomhall, & Du Toit, 2004 ), cub survival (Broekhuis, 2018 ) and coexistence with other predators (Broekhuis et al., 2013 ).

The Maasai Mara in Kenya is an ideal place to conduct this study as it is a landscape that is under increasing human pressure (Lamprey & Reid, 2004 ) and yet it boasts a high density of cheetahs (Broekhuis & Gopalaswamy, 2016 ). The area consists of both wildlife areas (dominated by wildlife) and community land (dominated by people), with no barriers separating the two so that cheetahs and other animals can move freely. We will therefore refer to the landscape as a human‐wildlife landscape rather than a human‐dominated landscape. The Maasai Mara also consists of a mosaic of open and wooded (semiclosed) habitat types (Oindo, Skidmore, & De Salvo, 2003 ). Here we investigate the influence of anthropogenic and environmental factors, at different scales, on the habitat use of cheetahs residing in a human‐wildlife landscape using data from six cheetahs fitted with GPS radio‐collars (Figure  1 ). Various studies on carnivores in human‐dominated landscapes have shown a strong avoidance of humans (e.g., Elliot et al., 2014 ), however, it is possible that cheetahs may prefer human‐dominated areas as it is believed that they do well in areas where competitors, particularly lions ( Panthera leo ) and spotted hyaenas ( Crocuta crocuta ), have been eradicated (Marker, Dickman, Mills, & Macdonald, 2003 ). Under a competition‐avoidance hypothesis we would expect cheetahs in the Maasai Mara to prefer areas outside the wildlife areas as the densities of competitors, especially lions, are high inside the wildlife areas (Elliot & Gopalaswamy, 2017 ). Alternatively, if the human disturbance outside the wildlife areas is high, then cheetahs are likely to select for wildlife areas. We would also expect that cheetah habitat selection will be influenced by factors that provide concealment from other predators, including humans, such as semiclosed habitat, and those that provide opportunities for increased hunting success, such as areas with a high edge density between open and semiclosed areas and areas with a gentle slope. Lastly, we expect that the anthropogenic and environmental factors are selected at different scales, with factors important for cheetahs’ choice in area utilization selected at a broad scale and resources within home‐ranges to be selected at a fine scale.

Cheetah (M01), part of a five‐male coalition, with a GPS radio‐collar in the Maasai Mara, Kenya

2. MATERIAL AND METHODS

2.1. study area.

This study was conducted in the Maasai Mara which lies in the southwest of Kenya (centered at 1°S and 35°E) and it makes up the northern section of the larger Serengeti‐Mara ecosystem. The study area itself (~5,762 km 2 ) included both wildlife and non‐wildlife areas (community land; Figure  2 ). The wildlife areas (~2,601 km 2 ) are set aside for wildlife‐based activities, such as photographic tourism, and include the Maasai Mara National Reserve (MMNR) and the surrounding conservancies. The MMNR is managed by the Narok County Government while the conservancies are each managed by different management companies. The conservancies are formed through a partnership between Maasai landowners and tourism companies, whereby landowners receive a fixed, monthly payment for leasing their land for wildlife based activities on the condition that they do not live on the land, cultivate or develop it (Osano et al., 2013 ; Thompson, Serneels, Kaelo, & Trench, 2009 ). However, in some cases, especially on the boundaries of some conservancies, people still reside with their livestock. The wildlife areas are not fenced making it possible for animals to move freely into community land.

Map of the study area in the southwest of Kenya

Community land (~3,161 km 2 ) is the area outside the MMNR and the conservancies, of which the north and west are dominated by agriculture. To the east settlements are predominant, where the Maasai people reside with their livestock in homesteads known as manyattas . Both people and livestock in the area are increasing at a rapid rate (Lamprey & Reid, 2004 ), as are the fences that are being erected as a result of land subdivision (Løvschal et al., 2017 ).

The habitat in the study area varies greatly, ranging from open grasslands and shrubland, to riverine forests (Oindo et al., 2003 ). The open grassland plains, which are dominated by Themeda triandra , are mostly found toward the south and west of the study area, while the north and northeast consist mostly of Croton thickets ( Croton dichogamous ) and Vachellia woodlands ( Vachellia drepanolobium and V. gerrardii ). Riverine woodland can be found along the major rivers and their tributaries (Oindo et al., 2003 ).

The area experiences one rainy season (November–June) and one dry season (July–October; Ogutu, Piepho, Dublin, Bhola, & Reid, 2008 ). The long grass after the rainy season attracts large numbers of migratory ungulates, including the white‐bearded wildebeest ( Connochaetes taurinus ) and the common zebra ( Equus quagga ) from the Serengeti in Tanzania. Throughout the year, a large abundance of cheetah prey is still available, including resident white‐bearded wildebeest, Thomson's gazelle ( Eudorcas thomsonii ), Grant's gazelle ( Nanger granti ) and impala ( Aepyceros melampus ; Broekhuis, Thuo, & Hayward, 2018 ).

2.2. Cheetah collaring

Global Positioning System (GPS) radio‐collars (African Wildlife Tracking— http://www.awt.co.za ) were fitted on six adult cheetahs (four males and two females) between 11 April 2015 and 16 August 2017. Each of the collared individuals were singletons, except for one male (M01) who was part of a five‐male coalition and one female (F02) who had four 14‐month‐old cubs at the time of capture. While this is a relatively small sample size, it represents ~30% of the adult population as it is estimated that only 32 individuals >18 months are found within the wildlife areas of the Maasai Mara (Broekhuis & Gopalaswamy, 2016 ).

In compliance with Kenyan law, all immobilizations for deployment/removal of radio‐collars were performed by a Kenya Wildlife Service veterinarian. Cheetahs were free‐darted and immobilized using a combination of ketamine (2–2.5 mg/kg) and medetomidine (0.07 mg/kg), remotely administered by a Dan‐Inject CO 2 rifle (Dan‐Inject, Denmark), and reversed with atipamezole (0.3 mg/ml; following Kock, Meltzer, & Burroughs, 2006 ). Sedation time was kept to a minimum, typically less than 1 hr. After immobilization, all cheetahs recovered fully, showing no signs of distress and no apparent side effects were observed on both the short‐ and long‐term. Collars were only fitted on adults and weighed 400 g which is the recommended weight for cheetah collars (Broekhuis, Bissett, & Chelysheva, 2017a ). All radio‐collars were removed if they malfunctioned or if the batteries were low.

Collars deployed on females collected GPS coordinates every 2 hr (01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23 hr), but, due to problems with battery life, the collars on males were set to collect GPS coordinates every 3 hr (00, 03, 06, 09, 12, 15, 18, 21 hr). On average, collars were deployed for 156 days, ranging from 60 to 301 days (Supporting Information Table S1 ).

2.3. Habitat selection

Habitat selection was determined using a resource selection function (RSF), whereby we compared what was used by the cheetahs, using the location data collected by the collars, to what was available to them within the study area (Manly, McDonald, Thomas, McDonald, & Erickson, 2002 ). To determine use, we randomly selected 50% of the total points collected at night and 50% of the total points collected during the day per individual to minimize autocorrelation. One female (F01) had a litter after her collar was deployed, which she lost after 22 days. As her movements were restricted during this time, all data points, except for one randomly selected point per day during this period, were removed. To determine the number of available points that were needed for the analysis, we conducted a sensitivity analysis following the methods described by Stabach, Wittemyer, Boone, Reid, and Worden ( 2016 ). Based on this we decided to use a 1:1 ratio for used and available points, meaning that we created the same number of random points as GPS points. The random points were generated within the 99% utilization distribution of all the individuals combined. This utilization distribution was calculated using the Kernel Density Estimation function in Geospatial Modeling Environment (Beyer, 2012 ) using a Gaussian distribution, as this is representative of cheetah movement (Broekhuis & Gopalaswamy, 2016 ), and least squares cross‐validation method to estimate the optimized kernel bandwidth matrix. Habitat selection was assessed both during the night as well as during the day (night: 7 p.m.–6 a.m.; day: 7 a.m.–6 p.m.).

2.4. Explanatory variables

We included three anthropogenic and five environmental explanatory variables in our analyses, which we grouped into five classes, based on their similarities: anthropogenic pressure, wildlife areas, habitat type, habitat structure, and slope.

2.4.1. Anthropogenic variables

Anthropogenic pressure.

Two variables were used to quantify the anthropogenic pressure within the study area: the human footprint density and the distance to main roads. The human footprint, which included human development, such as settlements, livestock enclosures, dams, towns and agricultural land, was digitized using QGIS (QGIS Development Team, 2017 ) with the OpenLayers plugin for both Google Earth and Bing maps. To reflect the size of the development, polygons were drawn around each human development. This was combined with the polygons of fences within the study area based on 2015 and 2016 fence data from Løvschal et al. ( 2017 ). The polygons were converted to points and using the point density function in ArcGIS 10.2.2 (Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc., 2014 ) the density of human footprint was calculated for the different scales (see “Scaling”). The combination of the human footprint and the 2015 fence data were used for cheetahs collared in 2015 and the combination of the human footprint and the 2016 fence data were used for cheetahs collared in 2016 and 2017. For the distance to main roads, the Euclidean distance to roads was calculated using the Spatial Analyst tool in ArcGIS.

Wildlife areas

This included the MMNR and the conservancies.

2.4.2. Environmental variables

Habitat type.

We created a habitat map based on two LandSat 8 images (17 July 2013 and 25 January 2014). The images were classified based on habitat structure using the Random Forest method, chosen for its high classification accuracy (Cutler et al., 2007 ; Kampichler, Wieland, Calmé, Weissenberger, & Arriaga‐Weiss, 2010 ). The training data were created in QGIS using a combination of 378 habitat points obtained on the ground and high‐resolution SPOT 5 imagery (2.5 m resolution) from 2011 (SPOT data/ISIS programme, Copyright CNES). In addition to the original satellite images, we also used the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index and texture to increase the accuracy of classification. The classification was carried out using the randomForest package in R (R Core Team, 2017 ). Habitat was classified according to three different habitat types: open, semiclosed and closed (Supporting Information Table S2 ). The final map was ground‐truthed based on 2,000 random points and had an accuracy of 87%. For this analysis, we used the two most dominant habitat variables within the study area: open and semiclosed habitat (Supporting Information Table S3 ).

Habitat structure

Two variables, edge density and the patch density, were used as these variables have been shown to be important habitat structures for cheetahs (Mills et al., 2004 ). Both variables were calculated in FRAGSTATS, version 4.2.1.603 (McGarigal & Ene, 2015 ) using the habitat map (see above). Edge density represents the total edge length between open and semiclosed habitats divided by the total landscape area in squared meters which is then converted into hectares. This results in a standardized edge density, which can be compared along different sized landscapes. Patch density represents the number of open and semiclosed patches per 100 hectares. Patch density is calculated by dividing the number of patches of each habitat type by the total number of patches, converted to 100 hectares, so that landscapes of different sizes can be compared.

The slope was calculated using the function Slope in the Spatial Analyst toolbox in ArcGIS. We used digital elevation data for this calculation, which was downloaded from https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov using the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission 1 Arc‐Second Global dataset.

All the predictor variables, except those that were proportions, were standardized using a z ‐score transformation with a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 1.

2.4.3. Scaling

All the variables were based on a spatial resolution of 30 × 30 m. Each of the environmental and anthropogenic variables, apart from the slope and distance to main roads, were calculated at six different scales: 90, 180, 360, 720, 1,440, and 2,880 m to determine at which scale selection was biologically meaningful (McGarigal, Wan, Zeller, Timm, & Cushman, 2016 ). These scales were chosen as we wanted to include a wide variance of scales, but were limited by our original 30 × 30 m resolution. The different scales were computed using the program FRAGSTATS, using moving window statistics (Isaaks & Srivastava, 1989 ). To create the different scales of the categorical variables (open habitat, semiclosed habitat, and wildlife areas) the proportion of each category was calculated using the Percentage of Landscape (PLAND) option for class metrics, whereas the different scales of the edge and patch densities were calculated as a landscape metric.

2.5. Statistical analyses

Cheetah habitat use was determined using Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMMs) with a binomial error structure with 1 representing the actual GPS locations of the cheetahs (used) and 0 representing the random points (available). Cheetah ID was included as a random factor to account for differences between individual cheetahs (Gillies et al., 2006 ). For each analysis, the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) was used to select the best model, with the lowest AIC‐value representing the best model (Burnham & Anderson, 2002 ). All our statistical analyses were performed in R (R Core Team, 2017 ).

Our analysis followed a multi‐stage process. First, for each explanatory variable, a univariate scaling analysis was performed to optimize the scale that best captured the cheetahs’ response (McGarigal et al., 2016 ). The scale with the lowest AIC value was then retained for the next step. Second, using the explanatory variables with the scales from the previous step, the most important variable in each of the classes was selected and used for the final GLMMs in order to avoid overspecification of the models. Lastly, we conducted an all‐subsets analysis using the most important variable from each of the five classes. Variance inflation for the five variables was checked using the vif function in the package car . The different models were ranked using AIC and relative support was assessed using Akaike weights ( w i ). When one model was superior ( w i   > 0.9) this was used, otherwise parameter estimates were averaged for models with AIC differences (Δ i   < 2) correcting for model weights (Burnham & Anderson, 2002 ).

The parameters of the best model were used to create the habitat suitability map using the resource selection function by the exponential form of

whereby w ( x ) is the outcome of the RSF, x n the covariates, β n the fixed regression coefficients for locations i and individuals j , β 0 the mean intercept and γ 0 j the random intercept for individuals j (Manly et al., 2002 ; Gillies et al., 2006 ).

Cheetah habitat selection was similar during the day and night, hence we decided to pool the data (Supporting information Figure S1 ). The univariate analysis shows that the explanatory variables influenced the distribution of cheetahs on different scales. Most notably, the human footprint density and the proportion of wildlife areas influenced cheetah habitat selection at a scale of 1,440 and 720 m, respectively, whereas the environmental variables had a much finer sphere of influence ranging between 90 and 180 m (open habitat: 90 m; semiclosed habitat: 90 m; edge density: 180 m; and patch density: 90 m). Human presence was a better indicator of cheetah presence than distance to main roads (Supporting Information Table S4 ). Within the habitat type and structure, cheetah distribution was better explained by semiclosed habitat rather than open habitat and edge density rather than patch density (Supporting Information Table S4 ). This meant that the variables that were used in the final analysis included the human footprint density, wildlife areas, semiclosed habitat, edge density, and slope. All of these variables were included in the top model (Table  1 ), but their effect on habitat use varied per variable with those with negative coefficients being avoided and positive coefficients being selected. Most notably was the avoidance of humans (estimate = −2.725, 95% CI = −4.162 to −1.420; Figure  3 a) and selection for wildlife areas (estimate = 2.358, 95% CI = 2.122 to 2.601; Figure  3 b). Cheetahs also selected for areas dominated by semiclosed habitat (estimate = 1.089, 95% CI = 0.937 to 1.242; Figure  3 c) and areas where there was a high edge density between open and semiclosed habitat (estimate = 0.334, 95% CI = 0.282 to 0.386 Figure  3 d), but avoided areas with steep slopes (estimate = −0.260, 95% CI = −0.380 to −0.141; Figure  3 e). These results were used to create a habitat suitability map for the study area (Figure  4 ).

Top ten GLMMs representing cheetah habitat selection in the Maasai Mara, Kenya

The most parsimonious model was found to be the most complex model, with hf = human footprint density, wa = wildlife areas, sch = semi‐closed habitat, ed = edge density, sl = slope, and the appropriate scales as subscripts. Δ i represents the AIC difference and w i represents the model weightings.

The relative probability of use by cheetahs in the Maasai Mara in relation to (a) human footprint density, (b) wildlife areas, (c) semiclosed habitat, (d) edge density, and (e) slope. The fitted lines are presented with the 95% confidence intervals in grey

Habitat suitability map for cheetahs in the Maasai Mara, Kenya, based on the following variables: human footprint density, wildlife areas, semiclosed habitat, edge density and slope, with the wildlife areas outlined in black. The map was drawn using the Stretch type “Standard Deviations” in ArcGIS

The habitat suitability map shows that the wildlife areas are more suitable for cheetahs than community land. Within the wildlife areas, the northern tip had the least suitable habitat for cheetahs, whereas in the eastern areas (Olare‐Motorogi Conservancy, Naboisho Conservancy, Ol Kinyei Conservancy and the eastern section of the MMNR) were the most suitable. Even though the community land shows poor habitat suitability, a similar pattern can be seen. Most of the northern section indicate very poor cheetah habitat (bright‐blue), while the eastern section shows to be slightly better (light‐blue), possibly providing connectivity between nonadjacent conservancies when protected.

4. DISCUSSION

This study explored multiscale habitat selection by cheetahs in a human‐wildlife landscape. Our results reveal that anthropogenic variables were selected at broader scales than environmental variables. The best indicators of cheetah presence were the human footprint density, wildlife areas, semiclosed habitat, edge density and slope. Cheetahs selected for areas with a low human footprint density and a high proportion of wildlife areas, semiclosed habitat, and edge density but avoided areas with steep slopes.

4.1. Scales

Cheetahs selected anthropogenic variables, including human footprint density (1,440 m) and wildlife areas (720 m), at a broader scale compared to the environmental variables (90 and 180 m). This suggests that anthropogenic pressures affect habitat selection at a home‐range level, whilst environmental variables influence site‐level habitat selection (Boyce, 2018 ; DeCesare et al., 2012 ). A similar result was found for brown bears ( Ursus arctos ) in the Cantabrian Range, northwest Spain (Sánchez, Cushman, & Saura, 2014 ). Brown bears within this region perceived anthropogenic disturbances, such as building density, agriculture, and transportation infrastructure, at broad scales, while environmental variables, such as edge effects amongst cover types and canopy closure, were selected at finer scales (Sánchez et al., 2014 ). Here, we show the importance of taking scale into account when conducting habitat selection studies, which is supported by other studies on, for example, Mexican spotted owl (Timm et al., 2016 ), mountain bongo antelope ( Tragelaphus euryceros isaaci ; Estes, Okin, Mwangi, & Shugart, 2008 ) and brown bears (Sánchez et al., 2014 ). However, the multiscale approach within habitat selection studies is still uncommon (McGarigal et al., 2016 ) and to our knowledge this is the first multiscale habitat selection study for cheetahs.

4.2. Anthropogenic variables

Under the competition‐avoidance hypothesis we expected that cheetahs would prefer areas outside the wildlife areas to avoid competition with other predators, especially lions as they occur at very high densities inside the wildlife areas (Elliot & Gopalaswamy, 2017 ). However, our results show a strong preference for wildlife areas and an avoidance of human presence. This is in line with findings by Riggio et al. ( 2018 ) who classified cheetahs as being very sensitive to human disturbances based on a combination of transect data and interview data in Wami‐Mbiki Wildlife Management Area, Tanzania. Marker et al. ( 2003 ), on the other hand, argue that cheetahs in Namibia prefer the farmlands over wildlife areas to avoid lions and spotted hyaenas. It is possible that the human density outside wildlife areas in the Maasai Mara is higher compared to the farmlands in Namibia (Lamprey & Reid, 2004 ; Marker, Dickman, Mills, Jeo, & Macdonald, 2008 ). These results therefore suggest that cheetahs potentially consider humans as a bigger threat than other predators. This is similar to findings by Clinchy et al. ( 2016 ), who found that mesopredators were more fearful of humans than larger predators.

What was striking about the data and the subsequent results was that not only did cheetahs prefer the wildlife areas, they rarely left the wildlife areas despite frequently coming close to the boundaries of the wildlife areas (Supporting Information Figure S2 ). None of the wildlife areas are fenced making it possible for cheetahs to move into the more human‐dominated areas. However, a high number of human settlements are found on the borders of the wildlife areas, possibly creating a barrier. This barrier is not a hard boundary as there is occasional movement of cheetahs in and out of the wildlife areas. Only one cheetah within our study (F02) frequently traveled through community land between two nonadjacent conservancies (Supporting Information Figure S2 ). This finding is corroborated by a recent study by Madsen and Broekhuis (in press) who found that cheetahs are occasionally seen outside the wildlife areas, but that cheetahs were more likely to occur close to the wildlife areas. A big concern for carnivores moving through, or residing in, human‐dominated areas is the potential for conflict to occur with humans. In the Maasai Mara, cheetahs do occasionally predate on livestock (Broekhuis, Thuo, & Hayward 2018 ) and as livestock numbers outside the wildlife areas are high (Broekhuis, Cushman, & Elliot, 2017b ; Ogutu et al., 2016 ) it is potentially an easy food source for cheetahs. However, it has been shown that some carnivores, including cheetahs, prefer wild prey over domestic (Ghoddousi et al., 2016 ; Marker, 2002 ) and as wild prey species outside the wildlife areas are declining (Ogutu et al., 2016 ) it is possible that cheetahs prefer the wildlife areas where large numbers of wild prey are still readily available.

When including anthropogenic variables in this habitat selection study two assumptions were made. Firstly, we did not differentiate between the different wildlife areas, and thereby assumed that all the wildlife areas had the same management policies. This is, however, not the case as management policies varied greatly between the different wildlife areas (Bedelian & Ogutu, 2017 ). Most notable is that each wildlife area has a different policy on livestock grazing; in some areas livestock grazing within the wildlife areas is prohibited whereas in other areas livestock grazing is allowed either all year round or in designated areas or during specific times of year. There is little research done on the influence of the presence of livestock and herders on carnivore behavior, but considering the strong avoidance of human presence by cheetahs it is possible that they minimize the use of wildlife areas where large herds of livestock are allowed to graze continuously.

Secondly, the human footprint density layer was created using Google Earth and Bing maps with some images dating back to 2009. As the human population is continually increasing (Lamprey & Reid, 2004 ) it is likely that the human footprint data used in this study was an underestimation of the current human pressures that cheetahs face. However, as cheetahs showed an avoidance of humans, which is corroborated by other studies (e.g., Riggio et al., 2018 ), we suspect that our results are on the conservative side.

4.3. Environmental variables

The global cheetah decline has, in some part, been attributed to predation and competition with other predators, especially lions and spotted hyaenas. Laurenson ( 1995 ) estimated that in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania only 4.8% of cubs born reach independence, with 73% of deaths accounted for by predator‐induced mortality. However, studies in other parts of Africa have found a much higher cub survival, even with the presence of lions (e.g., Mills & Mills, 2013 ). Additionally, recent research has shown that lion numbers do not negatively influence cheetah numbers (Swanson et al., 2014 ), which is likely because cheetahs adjust their spatiotemporal patterns on a fine scale to avoid immediate risks of these larger, more dominant carnivores (Broekhuis et al., 2013 ; Vanak et al., 2013 ). We found that cheetahs preferred areas dominated by semiclosed habitat which could explain why cheetahs preferred the wildlife areas despite the very high lion densities (Elliot & Gopalaswamy, 2017 ). Semiclosed habitat provides concealment, thereby minimizing the possibility of being detected by other predators. This is supported by findings from the Okavango Delta, Botswana, where cheetahs were able to use the same areas as lions especially in more wooded habitat (Broekhuis et al., 2013 ). The use of semiclosed habitat could similarly be a key in avoiding humans. Both Eurasian lynx ( Lynx lynx ) and coyotes ( Canis latrans ) showed a preference for dense vegetation in areas with high human disturbance (Atwood, Weeks, & Gehring, 2004 ; Bouyer et al., 2015 ). This was primarily linked to the fact that dense vegetation can provide cover and thus security. By selecting areas that provide more coverage, an individual may increase its fitness by increasing its longevity. This illustrates the importance of conserving dense vegetation patches both inside and outside wildlife areas.

Additionally to selecting areas dominated by semiclosed habitat, cheetahs also selected for areas with a high density of edges between open and semiclosed habitat. Previous studies on cheetahs in the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania suggest that cheetahs’ high speed hunting strategy requires them to primarily use open plains (Caro, 1994 ). However, other studies have shown that cheetahs can increase their hunting success using a combination of woody vegetation and open plains (Bissett & Bernard, 2007 ; Mills et al., 2004 ), using wooded areas to stalk and the open habitat to pursue and catch prey (Mills et al., 2004 ). Similarly, cougars ( Puma concolor ) made significantly more kills in edge and edge like areas (areas with trees with a visibility of at least 20 m) as these areas provided an opportunity for cougars to detect prey, while staying hidden during the stalking phase of the hunt (Laundré & Hernández, 2003 ).

Cheetahs within this study selected against slopes which is in contrast to findings by Welch et al. ( 2015 ). Welch et al. ( 2015 ) found that cheetahs selected for steep slopes in Mountain Zebra National Park, South Africa however, they found significant variation between individuals. Some individuals, especially males and those that were introduced at a later date, selected for less steep slopes within this area. Furthermore, it is possible that our findings are different to those by Welch et al. ( 2015 ), because slopes in the Maasai Mara are steeper (maximum slope = 44.45°) than those found in Mountain Zebra National Park. Studies on other carnivores in human‐dominated landscapes, including brown bear and Eurasian lynx, have shown that steep slopes are preferred as it provides a refuge from human disturbances (Basille, Calenge, Marboutin, Andersen, & Gaillard, 2008 ; Bouyer et al., 2015 ; Petram, Knauer, & Kaczensky, 2004 ). However, we found that cheetahs avoided steep slopes probably as it limits their hunting ability within our study area.

Numerous studies on habitat selection of carnivores have shown the importance of taking prey densities into account (e.g., Basille et al., 2009 ; Durant, 1998 ). However, it was not possible to include this environmental factor within our study. Prey densities within the Maasai Mara are very high (Stelfox, Peden, Epp, Hudson, & Susan, 1986 ), but fluctuate tremendously on a daily basis and throughout the year (Bhola, Ogutu, Said, Piepho, & Olff, 2012 ), making it difficult to accurately acquire numbers that could be used for a habitat selection study. However, as prey is not scarce within this study area, and cheetahs’ ability to avoid immediate risks from more dominant carnivores attracted to higher prey numbers, we suspect that excluding this factor from our analysis has not significantly impacted our results.

5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Overall, our results indicate a strong avoidance of cheetahs to human pressures, proving the importance of areas that are set aside for wildlife. This study also shows the importance of taking different scales into account when investigating habitat selection. While cheetahs were found to prefer wildlife areas, there is possible suitable habitat outside the wildlife areas which would be important for connectivity. However, to better predict corridors, step and path selection functions are more useful, as opposed to the more traditional point selection function that we have used (Zeller, McGarigal, & Whiteley, 2012 ). Additionally, our study did not include selection of habitat for different behavioral or demographic states. For example, Elliot et al. ( 2014 ) looked at patterns of connectivity for lions, and found a substantial difference between females, males, and dispersing males. Similarly, Abrahms et al. ( 2016 ) found that African wild dogs ( Lycaon pictus ) use roads differently depending on their behavioral state. Wild dogs selected roads when travelling, specifically in more dense vegetation, while they ignored roads when running at high speeds and avoided roads all together when resting (Abrahms et al., 2016 ). In order to accurately identify corridors within the Maasai Mara, we strongly recommend further research that includes step/path selection functions and different behavioral and demographic states.

While habitat preferences might change according to availability (Mysterud & Ims, 1998 ), or other factors such as density (van Beest, McLoughlin, Mysterud, & Brook, 2016 ), various studies have shown the importance of habitat as a refuge to minimize risk (Atwood et al., 2004 ; Bouyer et al., 2015 ; Broekhuis et al., 2013 ). Therefore, if we wish to conserve subdominant carnivore species, such as cheetahs, in an area with high densities of predators and competitors, including humans, future planning of new wildlife areas has to consider habitats that can provide a refuge.

In conclusion, we strongly believe that habitat selection studies, using a multiscale approach, of species under human pressure are important, as they can predict which areas are essential for conservation.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

None declared.

AUTHORS’ CONTRIBUTIONS

BK and FB conceived the ideas, collected, processed and analyzed the data, interpreted the results and wrote the manuscript. BK mapped the human footprint and FB deployed/removed the collars and created the habitat map.

DATA ACCESSIBILITY

Supporting information, acknowledgments.

Permissions for this study were granted to Femke Broekhuis by the National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation (Permit No.: NACOSTI/P/16/69633/10821), the Kenya Wildlife Service (Permit No.: KWS/BRM/5001) and the Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association. We would like to thank Banovich Wildscapes Foundation for providing funding for the GPS radio‐collars and for the veterinary cost to deploy and remove collars. Additionally, we would like to thank the African Wildlife Foundation, Vidda Foundation, BAND Foundation and the donations made through the Kenya Wildlife Trust to cover operational costs and the ISIS programme (CNES) for providing the SPOT 5 imagery. Finally, we would like to thank Dr. Irene Amoke for providing the shapefiles for the wildlife areas and the main roads, Richard S. Hatfield and Prof.dr.ir. Hans H. de Iongh for their input and discussions and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on the manuscript.

Klaassen B, Broekhuis F. Living on the edge: Multiscale habitat selection by cheetahs in a human‐wildlife landscape . Ecol Evol . 2018; 8 :7611–7623. 10.1002/ece3.4269 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]

• Abrahms, B. , Jordan, N. R. , Golabek, K. A. , McNutt, J. W. , Wilson, A. M. , & Brashares, J. S. (2016). Lessons from integrating behaviour and resource selection: Activity‐specific responses of African wild dogs to roads . Animal Conservation , 19 ( 3 ), 247–255. 10.1111/acv.12235 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Atwood, T. C. , Weeks, H. P. , & Gehring, T. M. (2004). Spatial ecology of coyotes along a suburban‐to‐rural gradient . Journal of Wildlife Management , 68 ( 4 ), 1000–1009. 10.2193/0022-541X [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Basille, M. , Calenge, C. , Marboutin, E. , Andersen, R. , & Gaillard, J. M. (2008). Assessing habitat selection using multivariate statistics: Some refinements of the ecological‐niche factor analysis . Ecological Modelling , 211 ( 1–2 ), 233–240. 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2007.09.006 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Basille, M. , Herfindal, I. , Santin‐janin, H. , Linnell, J. D. C. , Andersen, R. , Høgda, K. A. , … Gaillard, J. (2009). What shapes Eurasian lynx distribution in human dominated landscapes: Selecting prey or avoiding people? Ecography , 32 ( 4 ), 683–691. 10.111/j.1600-0587.2009.05712.x [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bedelian, C. , & Ogutu, J. O. (2017). Trade‐offs for climate‐resilient pastoral livelihoods in wildlife conservancies in the Mara ecosystem, Kenya . Pastoralism , 7 ( 1 ), 10 10.1186/s13570-017-0085-1 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Beyer, H. L. (2012). Geospatial Modelling Environment (Version 0.7.3.0) .
• Bhola, N. , Ogutu, J. O. , Said, M. Y. , Piepho, H.‐P. , & Olff, H. (2012). The distribution of large herbivore hotspots in relation to environmental and anthropogenic correlates in the Mara region of Kenya . Journal of Animal Ecology , 81 ( 6 ), 1268–1287. 10.1111/j.1365-2656.2012.02000.x [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bissett, C. , & Bernard, R. T. F. (2007). Habitat selection and feeding ecology of the cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus ) in thicket vegetation: Is the cheetah a savanna specialist? Journal of Zoology , 271 , 310–317. 10.1111/j.1469-7998.2006.00217.x [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bouyer, Y. , San, G. , Poncin, P. , Beudels‐jamar, R. C. , Odden, J. , & Linnell, J. D. C. (2015). Eurasian lynx habitat selection in human‐modified landscape in Norway: Effects of different human habitat modifications and behavioral states . BIOC , 191 , 291–299. 10.1016/j.biocon.2015.07.007 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Boyce, M. S. (2006). Scale for resource selection functions . Diversity and Distribution , 12 ( 3 ), 269–276. 10.1111/j.1366-9516.2006.00243.x [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Broekhuis, F. (2018). Natural and anthropogenic drivers of cub recruitment in a large carnivore . Ecology and Evolution , 1–8. 10.1002/ece3.4180 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Broekhuis, F. , Bissett, C. , & Chelysheva, E. (2017a). Field methods for visual and remote monitoring of cheetah In Marker L., Boast K. L., & Schmidt‐Küntzel A. (Eds.), Cheetahs biodiversity of the world: Conservation from genes to landscape . San Diego: Elsevier; 10.1016/b978-0-12-804088-1.00032-0 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Broekhuis, F. , Cozzi, G. , Valeix, M. , McNutt, J. W. , & Macdonald, D. W. (2013). Risk avoidance in sympatric large carnivores: Reactive or predictive? Journal of Animal Ecology , 82 , 1098–1105. 10.1111/1365-2656.12077 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Broekhuis, F. , Cushman, S. , & Elliot, N. B. (2017b). Identification of human‐carnivore conflict hotspots to prioritise mitigation efforts . Ecology and Evolution , 7 ( 24 ), 10630–10639. 10.1002/ece1003.3565 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Broekhuis, F. , & Gopalaswamy, A. M. (2016). Counting cats: Spatially explicit population estimates of cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus ) using unstructured sampling data . PLoS ONE , 11 ( 5 ), 1–15. 10.1371/journal.pone.0153875 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Broekhuis, F. , Thuo, D. , & Hayward, M. W. (2018). Feeding ecology of cheetahs in the Maasai Mara, Kenya and the potential for intra‐ and interspecific competition . Journal of Zoology , 304 ( 1 ), 65–72. 10.1111/jzo.12499 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Broomhall, L. S. , Mills, M. G. L. , & Toit, J. T. (2003). Home range and habitat use by cheetahs ( Acinonyx jubatus ) in the Kruger National Park . Journal of Zoology , 261 , 119–128. 10.1017/S0952836903004059 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Burnham, K. P. , & Anderson, D. R. (2002). Model selection and multimodel inference: A practical information‐theoretic approach , 2nd ed. New York: Springer‐Verlag; 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2003.11.004 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Caro, T. M. (1994). Cheetahs of the Serengeti plains: Group living in an asocial species . Chicago: The University of Chicago Press; 10.1111/j.1365-2028.1996.025-89025.x [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Carter, N. H. , & Linnell, J. D. C. (2016). Co‐adaptation is key to coexisting with large carnivores . Trends in Ecology & Evolution , 31 ( 8 ), 575–578. 10.1016/j.tree.2016.05.006 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Clinchy, M. , Zanette, L. Y. , Roberts, D. , Suraci, J. P. , Buesching, C. D. , Newman, C. , & Macdonald, D. W. (2016). Fear of the human “super predator” far exceeds the fear of large carnivores in a model mesocarnivore . Behavioral Ecology , 334 ( 6 ), 1826–1832. 10.1093/beheco/arw117 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Cozzi, G. , Chynoweth, M. , Kusak, J. , Çoban, E. , Çoban, A. , Ozgul, A. , & Şekercioğlu, Ç. H. (2016). Anthropogenic food resources foster the coexistence of distinct life history strategies: Year‐round sedentary and migratory brown bears . Journal of Zoology , 300 ( 2 ), 142–150. 10.1111/jzo.12365 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Cushman, S. A. , Elliot, N. B. , Macdonald, D. W. , & Loveridge, A. J. (2016). A multi‐scale assessment of population connectivity in African lions ( Panthera leo ) in response to landscape change . Landscape Ecology , 31 ( 6 ), 1337–1353. 10.1007/s10980-015-0292-3 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Cushman, S. A. , & Huettmann, F. (2010). In Cushman S. A., & Huettmann F. (Eds.), Spatial complexity, informatics, and wildlife conservation . Japan: Springer; 10.1007/978-4-431-87771-4 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Cushman, S. A. , & McGarigal, K. (2004). Patterns in the species–environment relationship depend on both scale and choice of response variables . Oikos , 105 ( 1 ), 117–124. 10.1111/J.0030-1299.2004.12524.X [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Cutler, D. R. , Edwards, T. C. , Beard, K. H. , Cutler, A. , Hess, K. T. , Gibson, J. , & Lawler, J. J. (2007). Random forests for classification in ecology . Ecology , 88 ( 11 ), 2783–2792. 10.1890/07-0539.1 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• DeCesare, N. J. , Hebblewhite, M. , Schmiegelow, F. , Hervieux, D. , McDermid, G. J. , Neufeld, L. , … Marco, M. (2012). Transcending scale dependence in identifying habitat with resource selection functions . Ecological Applications , 22 ( 4 ), 1068–1083. 10.1890/11-1610.1 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Durant, S. M. (1998). Competition refuges and coexistence: An example from Serengeti carnivores . Journal of Animal Ecology , 67 ( 3 ), 370–386. 10.1046/j.1365-2656.1998.00202.x [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Durant, S. M. , Bashir, S. , Maddox, T. , & Laurenson, M. K. (2007). Relating long‐term studies to conservation practice: The case of the Serengeti Cheetah Project . Conservation Biology , 21 ( 3 ), 602–611. 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2007.00702.x [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Durant, S. M. , Mitchell, N. , Groom, R. , Pettorelli, N. , Ipavec, A. , Jacobson, A. P. , … Young‐Overton, K. (2017). The global decline of cheetah Acinonyx jubatus and what it means for conservation . PNAS , 114 ( 3 ), 528–533. 10.1073/pnas.1611122114 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Elliot, N. B. , Cushman, S. A. , Macdonald, D. W. , & Loveridge, A. J. (2014). The devil is in the dispersers: Predictions of landscape connectivity change with demography . Journal of Applied Ecology , 51 ( 5 ), 1169–1178. 10.1111/1365-2664.12282 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Elliot, N. B. , & Gopalaswamy, A. M. (2017). Towards accurate and precise estimates of lion density . Conservation Biology , 31 ( 4 ), 934–943. 10.1111/cobi.12878 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc. (2014). ArcGIS 10.2 . Redlands, California, USA.
• Estes, L. D. , Okin, G. S. , Mwangi, A. G. , & Shugart, H. H. (2008). Habitat selection by a rare forest antelope: A multi‐scale approach combining field data and imagery from three sensors . Remote Sensing of Environment , 112 ( 5 ), 2033–2050. 10.1016/j.rse.2008.01.004 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ghoddousi, A. , Soofi, M. , Kh. Hamidi, A. , Lumetsberger, T. , Egli, L. , Khorozyan, I. , … Waltert, M. (2016). Assessing the role of livestock in big cat prey choice using spatiotemporal availability patterns . PLoS ONE , 11 ( 4 ), e0153439 10.1371/journal.pone.0153439 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Gillies, C. S. , Hebblewhite, M. , Nielsen, S. E. , Krawchuk, M. A. , Aldridge, C. L. , Frair, J. L. , … Jerde, C. L. (2006). Application of random effects to the study of resource selection by animals . Journal of Animal Ecology , 75 ( 4 ), 887–898. 10.1111/j.1365-2656.2006.01106.x [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Inskip, C. , & Zimmermann, A. (2009). Human‐felid conflict: A review of patterns and priorities worldwide . Oryx , 43 ( 1 ), 18 10.1017/S003060530899030X [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Isaaks, E. H. , & Srivastava, R. M. (1989). Applied geostatistics . Oxford: Oxford University Press. [ Google Scholar ]
• Kacelnik, A. , Krebs, J. R. , & Bernstein, C. (1992). The ideal free distribution and predator‐prey populations . Trends in Ecology & Evolution , 7 ( 2 ), 50–55. 10.1016/0169-5347(92)90106-L [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Kampichler, C. , Wieland, R. , Calmé, S. , Weissenberger, H. , & Arriaga‐Weiss, S. (2010). Classification in conservation biology: A comparison of five machine‐learning methods . Ecological Informatics , 5 ( 6 ), 441–450. 10.1016/j.ecoinf.2010.06.003 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Kearney, M. (2006). Habitat, environment and niche: What are we modelling? Oikos , 115 ( 1 ), 186–191. 10.1111/j.2006.0030-1299.14908.x [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Keddy, P. A. (2001). Modelling competition In Keddy P. A. (Ed.), Competition. Population and community biology series , vol. 26 (pp. 333–404). Dordrecht: Springer; 10.1007/978-94-010-0694-1_9 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Khorozyan, I. , Ghoddousi, A. , Soofi, M. , & Waltert, M. (2015). Big cats kill more livestock when wild prey reaches a minimum threshold . Biological Conservation , 192 , 268–275. 10.1016/J.BIOCON.2015.09.031 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Kock, M. , Meltzer, D. , & Burroughs, R. (2006). Chemical and physical restraint of wild animals: A training and field manual for African species . Johannesburg, South Africa: IWCS. [ Google Scholar ]
• Lamprey, R. H. , & Reid, R. S. (2004). Expansion of human settlement in Kenya's Maasai Mara: What future for pastoralism and wildlife? Journal of Biogeography , 31 ( 6 ), 997–1032. 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2004.01062.x [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Laundré, J. W. , & Hernández, L. (2003). Winter hunting habitat of pumas Puma concolor in northwestern Utah and southern Idaho, USA . Wildlife Biology , 9 , 123–129. 10.2981/wlb.2003.034 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Laurenson, M. K. (1995). Implications of high offspring mortality for cheetah population dynamics In Sinclair A. R. E., & Arcese P. (Eds.), Serengeti II: Dynamics, management and conservation of an ecosystem . Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. [ Google Scholar ]
• Linnell, J. D. C. , Promberger, C. , Boitani, L. , Swenson, J. E. , Breitenmoser, U. , & Andersen, R. (2005). In Ray J. C., Redford K. H., Steneck R. S., & Berger J. (Eds.), The linkage between conservation strategies for large carnivores and biodiversity: The view from the “Half‐Full” forests of Europe . Washington (DC): Island Press. [ Google Scholar ]
• Løvschal, M. , Bøcher, P. K. , Pilgaard, J. , Amoke, I. , Odingo, A. , Thuo, A. , & Svenning, J.‐C. (2017). Fencing bodes a rapid collapse of the unique Greater Mara ecosystem . Scientific Reports , 7 , 41450 10.1038/srep41450 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Madsen, E. K. , & Broekhuis, F. (in press). Determining multi‐species site use outside the protected areas of the Maasai Mara, Kenya, using false positive site‐occupancy modeling . Oryx.
• Manly, B. F. J. , McDonald, L. L. , Thomas, D. L. , McDonald, T. L. , & Erickson, W. (2002). Resource selection by animals: Statistical design and analysis for field studies , 2nd ed. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht, The Netherlands: 10.2307/5247 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Marker, L. L. (2002). Aspects of Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) Biology, Ecology and Conservation Strategies on Namibian Farmlands . PhD, University of Oxford.
• Marker, L. L. , Dickman, A. J. , Mills, M. G. L. , Jeo, R. M. , & Macdonald, D. W. (2008). Spatial ecology of cheetahs on north‐central Namibian farmlands . Journal of Zoology , 274 ( 3 ), 226–238. 10.1111/j.1469-7998.2007.00375.x [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Marker, L. L. , Dickman, A. J. , Mills, M. G. L. , & Macdonald, D. W. (2003). Aspects of the management of cheetahs, Acinonyx jubatus jubatus , trapped on Namibian farmlands . Biological Conservation , 114 ( 3 ), 401–412. 10.1016/S0006-3207(03)00068-5 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• McGarigal, K. , & Ene, E. (2015). FRAGSTATS 4.2; A Spatial Pattern Analysis Program for Categorical Maps .
• McGarigal, K. , Wan, H. Y. , Zeller, K. A. , Timm, B. C. , & Cushman, S. A. (2016). Multi‐scale habitat selection modelling: A review and outlook . Landscape Ecology , 31 ( 6 ), 1161–1175. 10.1007/s10980-016-0374-x [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Mills, M. G. L. , Broomhall, L. S. , & Du Toit, J. T. (2004). Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus feeding ecology in the Kruger National Park and a comparison across African savanna habitats: Is the cheetah only a successful hunter on open grassland plains? Wildlife Biology , 10 , 177–186. 10.2981/wlb.2004.024 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Mills, M. G. L. , & Mills, M. E. J. (2013). Cheetah cub survival revisited: A re‐evaluation of the role of predation, especially by lions, and implications for conservation . Journal of Zoology , 292 ( 2 ), 136–141. 10.1111/jzo.12087 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Mysterud, A. , & Ims, R. (1998). Functional responses in habitat use: Availability influences relative use in trade‐off situations . Ecology , 79 ( 4 ), 1435–1441. 10.2307/176754 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ogutu, J. O. , Owen‐Smith, N. , Piepho, H. P. , & Said, M. Y. (2011). Continuing wildlife population declines and range contraction in the Mara region of Kenya during 1977–2009 . Journal of Zoology , 285 ( 2 ), 99–109. 10.1111/j.1469-7998.2011.00818.x [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ogutu, J. O. , Piepho, H. P. , Dublin, H. T. , Bhola, N. , & Reid, R. S. (2008). Rainfall influences on ungulate population abundance in the Mara‐Serengeti ecosystem . Journal of Animal Ecology , 77 ( 4 ), 814–829. 10.1111/j.1365-2656.2008.01392.x [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ogutu, J. O. , Piepho, H.‐P. , Said, M. Y. , Ojwang, G. O. , Njino, L. W. , Kifugo, S. C. , & Wargute, P. W. (2016). Extreme wildlife declines and concurrent increase in livestock numbers in Kenya: What are the causes? PLoS ONE , 11 ( 9 ), e0163249 10.1371/journal.pone.0163249 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Oindo, B. O. , Skidmore, A. K. , & De Salvo, P. (2003). Mapping habitat and biological diversity in the Maasai Mara ecosystem . International Journal of Remote Sensing , 24 ( 5 ), 1053–1069. 10.1080/01431160210144552 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Orians, G. H. , & Wittenberger, J. F. (1991). Spatial and temporal scales in habitat selection . The American Naturalist , 137 , S29–S49. 10.2307/2462287 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Oriol‐Cotterill, A. , Macdonald, D. W. , Valeix, M. , Ekwanga, S. , & Frank, L. G. (2015). Spatiotemporal patterns of lion space use in a human‐dominated landscape . Animal Behaviour , 101 , 27–39. 10.1016/j.anbehav.20 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Osano, P. M. , Said, M. Y. , de Leeuw, J. , Ndiwa, N. , Kaelo, D. , Schomers, S. , … Ogutu, J. O. (2013). Why keep lions instead of livestock? Assessing wildlife tourism‐based payment for ecosystem services involving herders in the Maasai Mara, Kenya . Natural Resources Forum , 37 ( 4 ), 242–256. 10.1111/1477-8947.12027 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Petram, W. , Knauer, F. , & Kaczensky, P. (2004). Human influence on the choice of winter dens by European brown bears in Slovenia . Biological Conservation , 119 ( 1 ), 129–136. 10.1016/J.BIOCON.2003.07.021 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Pettorelli, N. , Hilborn, A. , Broekhuis, F. , & Durant, S. M. (2009). Exploring habitat use by cheetahs using ecological niche factor analysis . Journal of Zoology , 277 ( 2 ), 141–148. 10.1111/j.1469-7998.2008.00522.x [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• QGIS Development Team . (2017). QGIS Geographic Information System .
• R Core Team . (2017). R: A language and environment for statistical computer .
• Riggio, A. J. , Kija, H. , Masenga, E. , Mbwilo, F. , Van de Perre, F. , & Caro, T. (2018). Sensitivity of Africa's larger mammals to humans . Journal for Nature Conservation . 10.1016/j.jnc.2018.04.001 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ripple, W. J. , Estes, J. A. , Beschta, R. L. , Wilmers, C. C. , Ritchie, E. G. , Hebblewhite, M. , … Wirsing, A. J. (2014). Status and ecological effects of the world's largest carnivores . Science , 343 , 1241484 10.1126/science.1241484ARTICLE [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ripple, W. J. , Newsome, T. M. , Wolf, C. , Dirzo, R. , Everatt, K. T. , Galetti, M. , … Van Valkenburgh, B. (2015). Collapse of the world's largest herbivores . Science Advances , 1 ( 4 ), e1400103 10.1126/sciadv.1400103 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Sánchez, M. C. M. , Cushman, S. A. , & Saura, S. (2014). Scale dependence in habitat selection: The case of the endangered brown bear ( Ursus arctos ) in the Cantabrian Range (NW Spain) . International Journal of Geographical Information Science , 28 ( 8 ), 1531–1546. 10.1080/13658816.2013.776684 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Stabach, J. A. , Wittemyer, G. , Boone, R. B. , Reid, R. S. , & Worden, J. S. (2016). Variation in habitat selection by white‐bearded wildebeest across different degrees of human disturbance . Ecosphere , 7 ( 8 ), e01428 10.1002/ecs2.1428 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Stelfox, J. G. , Peden, D. G. , Epp, H. , Hudson, R. J. , & Susan, W. (1986). Herbivore dynamics in Southern Narok, Kenya . The Journal of Wildlife Management , 50 ( 2 ), 339–347. 10.2307/3801925 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Swanson, A. , Caro, T. , Davies‐Mostert, H. , Mills, M. G. L. , Macdonald, D. W. , Borner, M. , … Packer, C. (2014). Cheetahs and wild dogs show contrasting patterns of suppression by lions . Journal of Animal Ecology , 83 ( 6 ), 1418–1427. 10.1111/1365-2656.12231 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Thompson, D. M. , Serneels, S. , Kaelo, D. O. , & Trench, P. C. (2009). Maasai Mara – land privatization and wildlife decline: Can conservation pay its way? In Staying Maasai? (pp. 77–114). New York, NY: Springer; 10.1007/978-0-387-87492-0_3 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Timm, B. C. , McGarigal, K. , Cushman, S. A. , & Ganey, J. L. (2016). Multi‐scale Mexican spotted owl ( Strix occidentalis lucida ) nest/roost habitat selection in Arizona and a comparison with single‐scale modeling results . Landscape Ecology , 31 ( 6 ), 1209–1225. 10.1007/s10980-016-0371-0 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• van Beest, F. M. , McLoughlin, P. D. , Mysterud, A. , & Brook, R. K. (2016). Functional responses in habitat selection are density dependent in a large herbivore . Ecography , 39 ( 6 ), 515–523. 10.1111/ecog.01339 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• van der Meer, E. , Fritz, H. , Blinston, P. , & Rasmussen, G. S. A. (2014). Ecological trap in the buffer zone of a protected area: Effects of indirect anthropogenic mortality on the African wild dog Lycaon pictus . Oryx , 48 ( 2 ), 285–293. 10.1017/S0030605312001366 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Vanak, A. T. , Fortin, D. , Thaker, M. , Ogden, M. , Owen, C. , Greatwood, S. , & Slotow, R. (2013). Moving to stay in place: Behavioral mechanisms for coexistence of African large carnivores . Ecology , 94 ( 11 ), 2619–2631. 10.1890/13-0217.1 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Welch, R. J. , Bissett, C. , Perry, T. W. , & Parker, D. M. (2015). Somewhere to hide: Home range and habitat selection of cheetahs in an arid, enclosed system . Journal of Arid Environments , 114 , 91–99. 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2014.11.012 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Woodroffe, R. (2000). Predators and people: Using human densities to interpret declines of large carnivores . Animal Conservation , 3 ( 2 ), 165–173. 10.1111/j.1469-1795.2000.tb00241.x [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Zeller, K. A. , McGarigal, K. , & Whiteley, A. R. (2012). Estimating landscape resistance to movement: A review . Landscape Ecology , 27 ( 6 ), 777–797. 10.1007/s10980-012-9737-0 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Cheetahs At Risk Of Extinction As Their Habitat Shrinks, Study Says

The study estimates that about 7,000 cheetahs remain. Besides hunting, a shrinking habitat threaten cheetahs — they are more vulnerable to threats like food shortages.

Copyright © 2016 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

What are your chances of acceptance?

Calculate for all schools, your chance of acceptance.

Your chancing factors

Extracurriculars.

How to Write a Strong Thesis Statement: 4 Steps + Examples

What’s Covered:

What is the purpose of a thesis statement, writing a good thesis statement: 4 steps, common pitfalls to avoid, where to get your essay edited for free.

When you set out to write an essay, there has to be some kind of point to it, right? Otherwise, your essay would just be a big jumble of word salad that makes absolutely no sense. An essay needs a central point that ties into everything else. That main point is called a thesis statement, and it’s the core of any essay or research paper.

You may hear about Master degree candidates writing a thesis, and that is an entire paper–not to be confused with the thesis statement, which is typically one sentence that contains your paper’s focus. 

Read on to learn more about thesis statements and how to write them. We’ve also included some solid examples for you to reference.

Typically the last sentence of your introductory paragraph, the thesis statement serves as the roadmap for your essay. When your reader gets to the thesis statement, they should have a clear outline of your main point, as well as the information you’ll be presenting in order to either prove or support your point. 

The thesis statement should not be confused for a topic sentence , which is the first sentence of every paragraph in your essay. If you need help writing topic sentences, numerous resources are available. Topic sentences should go along with your thesis statement, though.

Since the thesis statement is the most important sentence of your entire essay or paper, it’s imperative that you get this part right. Otherwise, your paper will not have a good flow and will seem disjointed. That’s why it’s vital not to rush through developing one. It’s a methodical process with steps that you need to follow in order to create the best thesis statement possible.

Step 1: Decide what kind of paper you’re writing

When you’re assigned an essay, there are several different types you may get. Argumentative essays are designed to get the reader to agree with you on a topic. Informative or expository essays present information to the reader. Analytical essays offer up a point and then expand on it by analyzing relevant information. Thesis statements can look and sound different based on the type of paper you’re writing. For example:

• Argumentative: The United States needs a viable third political party to decrease bipartisanship, increase options, and help reduce corruption in government.
• Informative: The Libertarian party has thrown off elections before by gaining enough support in states to get on the ballot and by taking away crucial votes from candidates.
• Analytical: An analysis of past presidential elections shows that while third party votes may have been the minority, they did affect the outcome of the elections in 2020, 2016, and beyond.

Step 2: Figure out what point you want to make

Once you know what type of paper you’re writing, you then need to figure out the point you want to make with your thesis statement, and subsequently, your paper. In other words, you need to decide to answer a question about something, such as:

• What impact did reality TV have on American society?
• How has the musical Hamilton affected perception of American history?
• Why do I want to major in [chosen major here]?

If you have an argumentative essay, then you will be writing about an opinion. To make it easier, you may want to choose an opinion that you feel passionate about so that you’re writing about something that interests you. For example, if you have an interest in preserving the environment, you may want to choose a topic that relates to that. 

If you’re writing your college essay and they ask why you want to attend that school, you may want to have a main point and back it up with information, something along the lines of:

“Attending Harvard University would benefit me both academically and professionally, as it would give me a strong knowledge base upon which to build my career, develop my network, and hopefully give me an advantage in my chosen field.”

Step 3: Determine what information you’ll use to back up your point

Once you have the point you want to make, you need to figure out how you plan to back it up throughout the rest of your essay. Without this information, it will be hard to either prove or argue the main point of your thesis statement. If you decide to write about the Hamilton example, you may decide to address any falsehoods that the writer put into the musical, such as:

“The musical Hamilton, while accurate in many ways, leaves out key parts of American history, presents a nationalist view of founding fathers, and downplays the racism of the times.”

Once you’ve written your initial working thesis statement, you’ll then need to get information to back that up. For example, the musical completely leaves out Benjamin Franklin, portrays the founding fathers in a nationalist way that is too complimentary, and shows Hamilton as a staunch abolitionist despite the fact that his family likely did own slaves. 

Step 4: Revise and refine your thesis statement before you start writing

Read through your thesis statement several times before you begin to compose your full essay. You need to make sure the statement is ironclad, since it is the foundation of the entire paper. Edit it or have a peer review it for you to make sure everything makes sense and that you feel like you can truly write a paper on the topic. Once you’ve done that, you can then begin writing your paper.

When writing a thesis statement, there are some common pitfalls you should avoid so that your paper can be as solid as possible. Make sure you always edit the thesis statement before you do anything else. You also want to ensure that the thesis statement is clear and concise. Don’t make your reader hunt for your point. Finally, put your thesis statement at the end of the first paragraph and have your introduction flow toward that statement. Your reader will expect to find your statement in its traditional spot.

If you’re having trouble getting started, or need some guidance on your essay, there are tools available that can help you. CollegeVine offers a free peer essay review tool where one of your peers can read through your essay and provide you with valuable feedback. Getting essay feedback from a peer can help you wow your instructor or college admissions officer with an impactful essay that effectively illustrates your point.

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Thesis and Dissertation

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

In this section

CHEETAH in a Sentence Examples: 21 Ways to Use Cheetah

Are you curious about the definition of a cheetah? Cheetahs are majestic, agile big cats known for their incredible speed and impressive hunting skills. Native to Africa and parts of Iran, they are the fastest land animals on Earth, capable of reaching speeds up to 75 miles per hour in short bursts.

Cheetahs possess distinct features such as black tear-like streaks on their faces and slender, aerodynamic bodies built for swift chases. Their unique characteristics and unparalleled speed make them fascinating subjects for study and observation in the wild.

Table of Contents

7 Examples Of Cheetah Used In a Sentence For Kids

14 sentences with cheetah examples, how to use cheetah in sentences.

To use Cheetah in a sentence, start by identifying the main word or concept you want to emphasize. This word will be highlighted using Cheetah. Next, think about how you can incorporate this word into your sentence to make it stand out.

For example, if you want to emphasize the word “excited” in your sentence, you can say, “I am excited to try out this new restaurant in town.” By using Cheetah to highlight the word “excited,” you draw attention to your feeling of excitement in trying out the new restaurant.

Another way to use Cheetah in a sentence is to create contrast or comparison. For instance, you can say, “While I was busy with work, my friend was relaxing on a beach in Hawaii.” By highlighting the words “busy” and “relaxing,” you emphasize the difference in activities between you and your friend.

In summary, using Cheetah in a sentence involves selecting a key word or concept to highlight for emphasis. This can help make your point more clear or impactful to your audience. With practice, you can become more adept at incorporating Cheetah into your writing to effectively communicate your ideas.

In conclusion, the sentences with “cheetah” have showcased the incredible speed and agility of this magnificent big cat. Whether describing the cheetah’s lightning-fast sprint to catch its prey or its graceful movements in the wild, these sentences have captured the essence of one of nature’s most impressive hunters. Through vivid imagery and descriptive language, the sentences have painted a vivid picture of the cheetah’s power and beauty.

Overall, the sentences with “cheetah” have highlighted the unique characteristics and behaviors of this iconic animal. They have provided a glimpse into the world of the cheetah, inviting readers to marvel at its speed, agility, and undeniable grace. These sentences have successfully portrayed the cheetah as a symbol of strength and cunning in the animal kingdom.

Related Posts

In front or infront: which is the correct spelling, targeted vs. targetted: correct spelling explained in english (us) usage, as per request or as per requested: understanding the correct usage.

• Español (Spanish)
• Français (French)
• Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
• Brasil (Portuguese)
• हिंदी (Hindi)

Mongabay Series: Asian Rhinos

Javan rhino poacher gets 12 years in record sentence for wildlife crime in Indonesia

• A court in Indonesia has sentenced the head of a rhino poaching gang, Sunendi, to 12 years in jail for killing six rhinos, as well as stealing camera traps and illegal possession of firearms.
• At trial, it was revealed that Sunendi tracked down the rhinos after drawing up a map of their likely locations based on the data from the stolen camera traps.
• The sentence is the longest ever meted out in Indonesia for wildlife crime, and conservationists say they hope it will act as a determent.
• However, the loss of so many Javan rhinos — Sunendi’s and another gang claim to have killed a combined 26 rhinos, out of a population of 70-odd — puts the species closer to extinction than it has been since 2012.

A court in Indonesia has sentenced a man to 12 years in prison for poaching six critically endangered Javan rhinos, in what’s been hailed as the harshest punishment handed down for wildlife crime to date.

Poaching carries a maximum sentence of five years under Indonesian law, and prosecutors had sought this figure in the case against Sunendi , 32, along with a 10 million rupiah ($616) fine. However, the defendant also faced additional charges of theft and of illegal firearm possession, the latter of which carries a maximum penalty of death.

The presiding judge in the case, Joni Mauludin Saputra, said it was the gun possession charge that “carried the most weight” in the court’s decision to hand down the 12-year sentence and 100 million rupiah ($6,160).

“This case [is] clearly the biggest jail-time punishment for wildlife crime in Indonesia,” said Timer Manurung, the founder and director of the local NGO Auriga Nusantara, which last year published a report warning that poachers were operating with impunity in the park.

The Javan rhino ( Rhinoceros sondaicus ) is one of the most endangered mammals on the planet and is found only in Ujung Kulon National Park, at the western tip of the island of Java.

The International Rhino Foundation (IRF) praised the sentencing, noting that it was “particularly surprising considering most Indonesian court sentences are less than what the prosecutors recommend.”

Sunendi was found to have killed six rhinos as the leader of a poaching gang from 2019-2023, slaughtering five male rhinos and one female, the court found. He has a week to decide if he will appeal the sentence. Interestingly, the killings highlight the sexual imbalance in the park. Conservationists believe there are about twice as many male Javan rhinos as females, putting the species at increasing risk.

But Sunendi’s gang wasn’t the only one operating in the park for years. Another gang, allegedly run by a man named Suhar, was also out there killing rhinos. Based on statements from a dozen alleged poachers arrested in recent months, law enforcement has announced that a total of 26 rhinos were slaughtered by the two gangs since 2019. If verified, this would mean poachers have killed around one-third of all Javan rhinos on Earth in four years — an incredible loss for conservationists and the Indonesian government.

Indonesia hasn’t released a population census of Javan rhinos since 2019, which claimed 72 rhinos in the park. The 2023 report by Auriga Nusantara found that officials were counting numerous rhinos that hadn’t been spotted on camera trap for years, including some that were known to be dead.

Given the number of killed rhinos and recent births, it’s possible there are now fewer than 50 Javan rhinos left on our planet. If accurate, this puts Javan rhino conservation back more than a decade: in 2012, officials counted 40 rhinos.

“This punishment won’t bring back the poached rhinos, but it sends a strong message and should act as a deterrent to anyone considering wildlife crime in Indonesia,” Nina Fascione, executive director of the IRF, said in a statement. Police have also arrested two middlemen for fencing rhino horns allegedly for sale to China.

Sunendi’s trial uncovered a sophisticated poaching operation that exploited the park’s network of camera traps set up for conservation purposes. The theft charge he faced pertained to four camera traps that he stole from the park. From these, the court found, he extracted data of rhino sightings dating from 2020-2023 and used that data to draw up a map of where the animals were most likely to be found. He also had a map of park patrol routes, which he and his gang used to evade capture.

In the end, though, it was also a camera trap that was his undoing: Sunendi was apprehended last November after a camera trap photographed him illegally in the park with weapons. According to the court, he was also in possession of a Javan rhino skull and various rhino bones.

Since the confirmation of poachers in the park last year, officials have increased security, including closing the park to tourists.

Timer said he’s grateful to government officials who took this case seriously, including the current staff and head of Ujung Kulon National Park, as well as the prosecutors and the judges who pushed for a longer sentence. But there “is still [a] long way to go,” he said, and called on police and prosecutors to treat upcoming cases as they would organized crime, in order to “punish the mastermind and all its enablers.”

“It will take time to undo the damage done by these criminals, but we have brought Javan rhinos back from the brink of extinction once, and we can do so again,” Fascione said. “We know that despite this poaching activity, Javan rhinos continue to breed and have calves, so if stronger protections are put in place, and we put an end to poaching, they’ll rebound again. This strong sentence is a significant step to ensuring no one tries to poach a rhino in Indonesia again.”

Still, questions remain. Chief among them: how could poachers operate so easily in the park for four years without capture, especially given the number of rangers protecting rhinos and the level of monitoring with camera traps?

Banner image: A Javan rhino spotted on camera trap in Ujung Kulon National Park. Image courtesy of the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry.

Poachers claim to have killed one-third of all Javan rhinos, Indonesian police say

FEEDBACK: Use this form to send a message to the author of this post. If you want to post a public comment, you can do that at the bottom of the page.

Special series

Forest trackers.

• Narco activity takes heavy toll on Colombia’s protected forests, satellite data show
• Photos confirm narcotraffickers operating in Peru’s Kakataibo Indigenous Reserve
• Bolivia’s El Curichi Las Garzas protected area taken over by land-grabbers
• Authorities struggle to protect Bolivian national park from drug-fueled deforestation

• Report: Illegal fishing and labor abuse rampant in China’s Indian Ocean fleet
• Restoring Indigenous aquaculture heals both ecosystems and communities in Hawai‘i
• Peru approves the creation of long-awaited marine protected area
• Thai plan to relax fishing law stokes fear of return to illegal catches, worker abuse

Amazon Conservation

• New bill to expand farmlands in the Amazon may derail Brazil’s green efforts
• Bird populations are mysteriously declining at an Amazon park in Ecuador & beyond
• New ban threatens traditional fishers in Brazil’s Mato Grosso state
• Deforestation haunts top Peruvian reserve and its Indigenous communities

Land rights and extractives

• Critics see payback in Indonesia’s plan to grant mining permits to religious groups
• Impunity and pollution abound in DRC mining along the road to the energy transition
• Women weave a culture of resistance and agroecology in Ecuador’s Intag Valley
• Hyundai ends aluminum deal with Adaro Minerals following K-pop protest

Endangered Environmentalists

• Mongabay video screening at Chile’s Supreme Court expected to help landmark verdict in Brazil
• Indonesian activist freed in hate speech case after flagging illegal shrimp farms
• Final cheetah conservationists freed in Iran, but the big cat’s outlook remains grim
• Indonesian activists face jail over FB posts flagging damage to marine park

Indonesia's Forest Guardians

• On a Borneo mountainside, Indigenous Dayak women hold fire and defend forest
• Fenced in by Sulawesi national park, Indigenous women make forestry breakout
• In Borneo, the ‘Power of Mama’ fight Indonesia’s wildfires with all-woman crew
• Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo

Conservation Effectiveness

• The conservation sector must communicate better (commentary)
• Thailand tries nature-based water management to adapt to climate change
• Forest restoration to boost biomass doesn’t have to sacrifice tree diversity
• How scientists and a community are bringing a Bornean river corridor back to life

Southeast Asian infrastructure

• Study: Indonesia’s new capital city threatens stable proboscis monkey population
• Indonesia’s new capital ‘won’t sacrifice the environment’: Q&A with Nusantara’s Myrna Asnawati Safitri
• Small farmers in limbo as Cambodia wavers on Tonle Sap conservation rules
• To build its ‘green’ capital city, Indonesia runs a road through a biodiverse forest

you're currently offline

A generative AI reset: Rewiring to turn potential into value in 2024

It’s time for a generative AI (gen AI) reset. The initial enthusiasm and flurry of activity in 2023 is giving way to second thoughts and recalibrations as companies realize that capturing gen AI’s enormous potential value is harder than expected .

With 2024 shaping up to be the year for gen AI to prove its value, companies should keep in mind the hard lessons learned with digital and AI transformations: competitive advantage comes from building organizational and technological capabilities to broadly innovate, deploy, and improve solutions at scale—in effect, rewiring the business  for distributed digital and AI innovation.

About QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey

QuantumBlack, McKinsey’s AI arm, helps companies transform using the power of technology, technical expertise, and industry experts. With thousands of practitioners at QuantumBlack (data engineers, data scientists, product managers, designers, and software engineers) and McKinsey (industry and domain experts), we are working to solve the world’s most important AI challenges. QuantumBlack Labs is our center of technology development and client innovation, which has been driving cutting-edge advancements and developments in AI through locations across the globe.

Companies looking to score early wins with gen AI should move quickly. But those hoping that gen AI offers a shortcut past the tough—and necessary—organizational surgery are likely to meet with disappointing results. Launching pilots is (relatively) easy; getting pilots to scale and create meaningful value is hard because they require a broad set of changes to the way work actually gets done.

Let’s briefly look at what this has meant for one Pacific region telecommunications company. The company hired a chief data and AI officer with a mandate to “enable the organization to create value with data and AI.” The chief data and AI officer worked with the business to develop the strategic vision and implement the road map for the use cases. After a scan of domains (that is, customer journeys or functions) and use case opportunities across the enterprise, leadership prioritized the home-servicing/maintenance domain to pilot and then scale as part of a larger sequencing of initiatives. They targeted, in particular, the development of a gen AI tool to help dispatchers and service operators better predict the types of calls and parts needed when servicing homes.

Leadership put in place cross-functional product teams with shared objectives and incentives to build the gen AI tool. As part of an effort to upskill the entire enterprise to better work with data and gen AI tools, they also set up a data and AI academy, which the dispatchers and service operators enrolled in as part of their training. To provide the technology and data underpinnings for gen AI, the chief data and AI officer also selected a large language model (LLM) and cloud provider that could meet the needs of the domain as well as serve other parts of the enterprise. The chief data and AI officer also oversaw the implementation of a data architecture so that the clean and reliable data (including service histories and inventory databases) needed to build the gen AI tool could be delivered quickly and responsibly.

Creating value beyond the hype

Let’s deliver on the promise of technology from strategy to scale.

Our book Rewired: The McKinsey Guide to Outcompeting in the Age of Digital and AI (Wiley, June 2023) provides a detailed manual on the six capabilities needed to deliver the kind of broad change that harnesses digital and AI technology. In this article, we will explore how to extend each of those capabilities to implement a successful gen AI program at scale. While recognizing that these are still early days and that there is much more to learn, our experience has shown that breaking open the gen AI opportunity requires companies to rewire how they work in the following ways.

Figure out where gen AI copilots can give you a real competitive advantage

The broad excitement around gen AI and its relative ease of use has led to a burst of experimentation across organizations. Most of these initiatives, however, won’t generate a competitive advantage. One bank, for example, bought tens of thousands of GitHub Copilot licenses, but since it didn’t have a clear sense of how to work with the technology, progress was slow. Another unfocused effort we often see is when companies move to incorporate gen AI into their customer service capabilities. Customer service is a commodity capability, not part of the core business, for most companies. While gen AI might help with productivity in such cases, it won’t create a competitive advantage.

To create competitive advantage, companies should first understand the difference between being a “taker” (a user of available tools, often via APIs and subscription services), a “shaper” (an integrator of available models with proprietary data), and a “maker” (a builder of LLMs). For now, the maker approach is too expensive for most companies, so the sweet spot for businesses is implementing a taker model for productivity improvements while building shaper applications for competitive advantage.

Much of gen AI’s near-term value is closely tied to its ability to help people do their current jobs better. In this way, gen AI tools act as copilots that work side by side with an employee, creating an initial block of code that a developer can adapt, for example, or drafting a requisition order for a new part that a maintenance worker in the field can review and submit (see sidebar “Copilot examples across three generative AI archetypes”). This means companies should be focusing on where copilot technology can have the biggest impact on their priority programs.

Copilot examples across three generative AI archetypes

• “Taker” copilots help real estate customers sift through property options and find the most promising one, write code for a developer, and summarize investor transcripts.
• “Shaper” copilots provide recommendations to sales reps for upselling customers by connecting generative AI tools to customer relationship management systems, financial systems, and customer behavior histories; create virtual assistants to personalize treatments for patients; and recommend solutions for maintenance workers based on historical data.
• “Maker” copilots are foundation models that lab scientists at pharmaceutical companies can use to find and test new and better drugs more quickly.

Some industrial companies, for example, have identified maintenance as a critical domain for their business. Reviewing maintenance reports and spending time with workers on the front lines can help determine where a gen AI copilot could make a big difference, such as in identifying issues with equipment failures quickly and early on. A gen AI copilot can also help identify root causes of truck breakdowns and recommend resolutions much more quickly than usual, as well as act as an ongoing source for best practices or standard operating procedures.

The challenge with copilots is figuring out how to generate revenue from increased productivity. In the case of customer service centers, for example, companies can stop recruiting new agents and use attrition to potentially achieve real financial gains. Defining the plans for how to generate revenue from the increased productivity up front, therefore, is crucial to capturing the value.

McKinsey Live Event: Unlocking the full value of gen AI

Join our colleagues Jessica Lamb and Gayatri Shenai on April 8, as they discuss how companies can navigate the ever-changing world of gen AI.

Upskill the talent you have but be clear about the gen-AI-specific skills you need

By now, most companies have a decent understanding of the technical gen AI skills they need, such as model fine-tuning, vector database administration, prompt engineering, and context engineering. In many cases, these are skills that you can train your existing workforce to develop. Those with existing AI and machine learning (ML) capabilities have a strong head start. Data engineers, for example, can learn multimodal processing and vector database management, MLOps (ML operations) engineers can extend their skills to LLMOps (LLM operations), and data scientists can develop prompt engineering, bias detection, and fine-tuning skills.

A sample of new generative AI skills needed

The following are examples of new skills needed for the successful deployment of generative AI tools:

• data scientist:
• prompt engineering
• in-context learning
• bias detection
• pattern identification
• reinforcement learning from human feedback
• hyperparameter/large language model fine-tuning; transfer learning
• data engineer:
• data wrangling and data warehousing
• data pipeline construction
• multimodal processing
• vector database management

The learning process can take two to three months to get to a decent level of competence because of the complexities in learning what various LLMs can and can’t do and how best to use them. The coders need to gain experience building software, testing, and validating answers, for example. It took one financial-services company three months to train its best data scientists to a high level of competence. While courses and documentation are available—many LLM providers have boot camps for developers—we have found that the most effective way to build capabilities at scale is through apprenticeship, training people to then train others, and building communities of practitioners. Rotating experts through teams to train others, scheduling regular sessions for people to share learnings, and hosting biweekly documentation review sessions are practices that have proven successful in building communities of practitioners (see sidebar “A sample of new generative AI skills needed”).

It’s important to bear in mind that successful gen AI skills are about more than coding proficiency. Our experience in developing our own gen AI platform, Lilli , showed us that the best gen AI technical talent has design skills to uncover where to focus solutions, contextual understanding to ensure the most relevant and high-quality answers are generated, collaboration skills to work well with knowledge experts (to test and validate answers and develop an appropriate curation approach), strong forensic skills to figure out causes of breakdowns (is the issue the data, the interpretation of the user’s intent, the quality of metadata on embeddings, or something else?), and anticipation skills to conceive of and plan for possible outcomes and to put the right kind of tracking into their code. A pure coder who doesn’t intrinsically have these skills may not be as useful a team member.

While current upskilling is largely based on a “learn on the job” approach, we see a rapid market emerging for people who have learned these skills over the past year. That skill growth is moving quickly. GitHub reported that developers were working on gen AI projects “in big numbers,” and that 65,000 public gen AI projects were created on its platform in 2023—a jump of almost 250 percent over the previous year. If your company is just starting its gen AI journey, you could consider hiring two or three senior engineers who have built a gen AI shaper product for their companies. This could greatly accelerate your efforts.

Form a centralized team to establish standards that enable responsible scaling

To ensure that all parts of the business can scale gen AI capabilities, centralizing competencies is a natural first move. The critical focus for this central team will be to develop and put in place protocols and standards to support scale, ensuring that teams can access models while also minimizing risk and containing costs. The team’s work could include, for example, procuring models and prescribing ways to access them, developing standards for data readiness, setting up approved prompt libraries, and allocating resources.

While developing Lilli, our team had its mind on scale when it created an open plug-in architecture and setting standards for how APIs should function and be built.  They developed standardized tooling and infrastructure where teams could securely experiment and access a GPT LLM , a gateway with preapproved APIs that teams could access, and a self-serve developer portal. Our goal is that this approach, over time, can help shift “Lilli as a product” (that a handful of teams use to build specific solutions) to “Lilli as a platform” (that teams across the enterprise can access to build other products).

For teams developing gen AI solutions, squad composition will be similar to AI teams but with data engineers and data scientists with gen AI experience and more contributors from risk management, compliance, and legal functions. The general idea of staffing squads with resources that are federated from the different expertise areas will not change, but the skill composition of a gen-AI-intensive squad will.

Set up the technology architecture to scale

Building a gen AI model is often relatively straightforward, but making it fully operational at scale is a different matter entirely. We’ve seen engineers build a basic chatbot in a week, but releasing a stable, accurate, and compliant version that scales can take four months. That’s why, our experience shows, the actual model costs may be less than 10 to 15 percent of the total costs of the solution.

Building for scale doesn’t mean building a new technology architecture. But it does mean focusing on a few core decisions that simplify and speed up processes without breaking the bank. Three such decisions stand out:

• Focus on reusing your technology. Reusing code can increase the development speed of gen AI use cases by 30 to 50 percent. One good approach is simply creating a source for approved tools, code, and components. A financial-services company, for example, created a library of production-grade tools, which had been approved by both the security and legal teams, and made them available in a library for teams to use. More important is taking the time to identify and build those capabilities that are common across the most priority use cases. The same financial-services company, for example, identified three components that could be reused for more than 100 identified use cases. By building those first, they were able to generate a significant portion of the code base for all the identified use cases—essentially giving every application a big head start.
• Focus the architecture on enabling efficient connections between gen AI models and internal systems. For gen AI models to work effectively in the shaper archetype, they need access to a business’s data and applications. Advances in integration and orchestration frameworks have significantly reduced the effort required to make those connections. But laying out what those integrations are and how to enable them is critical to ensure these models work efficiently and to avoid the complexity that creates technical debt  (the “tax” a company pays in terms of time and resources needed to redress existing technology issues). Chief information officers and chief technology officers can define reference architectures and integration standards for their organizations. Key elements should include a model hub, which contains trained and approved models that can be provisioned on demand; standard APIs that act as bridges connecting gen AI models to applications or data; and context management and caching, which speed up processing by providing models with relevant information from enterprise data sources.
• Build up your testing and quality assurance capabilities. Our own experience building Lilli taught us to prioritize testing over development. Our team invested in not only developing testing protocols for each stage of development but also aligning the entire team so that, for example, it was clear who specifically needed to sign off on each stage of the process. This slowed down initial development but sped up the overall delivery pace and quality by cutting back on errors and the time needed to fix mistakes.

Ensure data quality and focus on unstructured data to fuel your models

The ability of a business to generate and scale value from gen AI models will depend on how well it takes advantage of its own data. As with technology, targeted upgrades to existing data architecture  are needed to maximize the future strategic benefits of gen AI:

• Be targeted in ramping up your data quality and data augmentation efforts. While data quality has always been an important issue, the scale and scope of data that gen AI models can use—especially unstructured data—has made this issue much more consequential. For this reason, it’s critical to get the data foundations right, from clarifying decision rights to defining clear data processes to establishing taxonomies so models can access the data they need. The companies that do this well tie their data quality and augmentation efforts to the specific AI/gen AI application and use case—you don’t need this data foundation to extend to every corner of the enterprise. This could mean, for example, developing a new data repository for all equipment specifications and reported issues to better support maintenance copilot applications.
• Understand what value is locked into your unstructured data. Most organizations have traditionally focused their data efforts on structured data (values that can be organized in tables, such as prices and features). But the real value from LLMs comes from their ability to work with unstructured data (for example, PowerPoint slides, videos, and text). Companies can map out which unstructured data sources are most valuable and establish metadata tagging standards so models can process the data and teams can find what they need (tagging is particularly important to help companies remove data from models as well, if necessary). Be creative in thinking about data opportunities. Some companies, for example, are interviewing senior employees as they retire and feeding that captured institutional knowledge into an LLM to help improve their copilot performance.
• Optimize to lower costs at scale. There is often as much as a tenfold difference between what companies pay for data and what they could be paying if they optimized their data infrastructure and underlying costs. This issue often stems from companies scaling their proofs of concept without optimizing their data approach. Two costs generally stand out. One is storage costs arising from companies uploading terabytes of data into the cloud and wanting that data available 24/7. In practice, companies rarely need more than 10 percent of their data to have that level of availability, and accessing the rest over a 24- or 48-hour period is a much cheaper option. The other costs relate to computation with models that require on-call access to thousands of processors to run. This is especially the case when companies are building their own models (the maker archetype) but also when they are using pretrained models and running them with their own data and use cases (the shaper archetype). Companies could take a close look at how they can optimize computation costs on cloud platforms—for instance, putting some models in a queue to run when processors aren’t being used (such as when Americans go to bed and consumption of computing services like Netflix decreases) is a much cheaper option.

Build trust and reusability to drive adoption and scale

Because many people have concerns about gen AI, the bar on explaining how these tools work is much higher than for most solutions. People who use the tools want to know how they work, not just what they do. So it’s important to invest extra time and money to build trust by ensuring model accuracy and making it easy to check answers.

One insurance company, for example, created a gen AI tool to help manage claims. As part of the tool, it listed all the guardrails that had been put in place, and for each answer provided a link to the sentence or page of the relevant policy documents. The company also used an LLM to generate many variations of the same question to ensure answer consistency. These steps, among others, were critical to helping end users build trust in the tool.

Part of the training for maintenance teams using a gen AI tool should be to help them understand the limitations of models and how best to get the right answers. That includes teaching workers strategies to get to the best answer as fast as possible by starting with broad questions then narrowing them down. This provides the model with more context, and it also helps remove any bias of the people who might think they know the answer already. Having model interfaces that look and feel the same as existing tools also helps users feel less pressured to learn something new each time a new application is introduced.

Getting to scale means that businesses will need to stop building one-off solutions that are hard to use for other similar use cases. One global energy and materials company, for example, has established ease of reuse as a key requirement for all gen AI models, and has found in early iterations that 50 to 60 percent of its components can be reused. This means setting standards for developing gen AI assets (for example, prompts and context) that can be easily reused for other cases.

While many of the risk issues relating to gen AI are evolutions of discussions that were already brewing—for instance, data privacy, security, bias risk, job displacement, and intellectual property protection—gen AI has greatly expanded that risk landscape. Just 21 percent of companies reporting AI adoption say they have established policies governing employees’ use of gen AI technologies.

Similarly, a set of tests for AI/gen AI solutions should be established to demonstrate that data privacy, debiasing, and intellectual property protection are respected. Some organizations, in fact, are proposing to release models accompanied with documentation that details their performance characteristics. Documenting your decisions and rationales can be particularly helpful in conversations with regulators.

In some ways, this article is premature—so much is changing that we’ll likely have a profoundly different understanding of gen AI and its capabilities in a year’s time. But the core truths of finding value and driving change will still apply. How well companies have learned those lessons may largely determine how successful they’ll be in capturing that value.

The authors wish to thank Michael Chui, Juan Couto, Ben Ellencweig, Josh Gartner, Bryce Hall, Holger Harreis, Phil Hudelson, Suzana Iacob, Sid Kamath, Neerav Kingsland, Kitti Lakner, Robert Levin, Matej Macak, Lapo Mori, Alex Peluffo, Aldo Rosales, Erik Roth, Abdul Wahab Shaikh, and Stephen Xu for their contributions to this article.

This article was edited by Barr Seitz, an editorial director in the New York office.

Explore a career with us

Related articles.

The economic potential of generative AI: The next productivity frontier

Rewired to outcompete

Meet Lilli, our generative AI tool that’s a researcher, a time saver, and an inspiration