species information

Cheetah - Guépard - Duma - Acinonyx jubatus

	Description and morphology Phylogenetic history Biology & life history Habitat Land tenure system Feeding ecology Reproduction Diseases & Genetics Cheetah and humans Threats Conservation & legal status
© A. Sliwa		© A. Sliwa

Background

The cheetah was once one of the most widely distributed land animals. Through the course of time, cheetahs migrated over land bridges from North America into China, through Asia, India, Europe, and finally to Africa, settling in its worldwide range as recently as 20,000 years ago. In 1900, approximately 100,000 cheetahs were found in at least 44 countries throughout Africa and Asia. The current free-ranging African populations of cheetahs are found in small, fragmented areas spread in 29 African countries of North Africa, the Sahel, East and southern Africa, and it is estimated that around 15,000 animals remain, representing a decline of nearly 90% over the century. However, current information about the status of the cheetah in many countries, especially countries that have been engaged in long civil wars, is lacking. The information from North and West Africa is particularly limited, and the cheetah's future in these areas is questionable. The remaining strongholds are Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa, and Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe in southern Africa.

Description and morphology

The cheetah is markedly different in both anatomy and behaviour from the other 36 species of Felidae. It is the fastest land mammal over short distances (300-400m), and has the optimum body size and stride length to reach these high speeds. Covering 7-8 meters in a stride, with only one foot touching the ground at a time, the cheetah can reach a speed of 110 km/h in seconds.

The distinguishing marks of a cheetah are the long tear-drop shaped lines on each side of the nose from the corner of its eyes to its mouth. The cheetah’s coat is tan to a yellow-buff colour, with smaller, less distinct spots between larger spots, and a white belly. Near the end of the tail, the spots merge to form several dark rings. The tail often ends in a bushy white tuft. Although male cheetah are often slightly bigger than females and have slightly larger heads, males and females are difficult to tell apart by appearance alone. Cubs are born fully furred and with black spots on a greyish coat. Within two weeks the cubs eyes are open and the fur on the cub’s back begins to grow; by six weeks old the cubs have a long mantle of tan and black fur.

The cheetah has specialized for speed through many adaptations: It is endowed with a powerful heart, oversized liver, and large, strong arteries. It has a small head, flat face, reduced muzzle length allowing the large eyes to be positioned for maximum binocular vision, enlarged nostrils, and extensive air-filled sinuses. Its body is narrow, lightweight with long, slender feet and legs, and specialized muscles, which act simultaneously for high acceleration, allowing greater swing to the limbs. Its hip and shoulder girdles swivel on a flexible spine that curves up and down, as the limbs are alternately bunched up and then extended when running, giving greater reach to the legs. The cheetah's long and muscular tail acts as a stabilizer or rudder for balance to counteract its body weight, preventing it from rolling over and spinning out in quick, fast turns during a high-speed chase. The cheetah is the only cat with short, blunt semi non-retractable claws that help grip the ground like cleats for traction when running. Their paws are less rounded than the other cats, and their pads are hard, similar to tire treads, to help them in fast, sharp turns.

The King Cheetah

The king cheetah was first noted in Zimbabwe in 1926. In 1927, the naturalist Reginald Innes Pocock declared it a separate species, but reversed this decision in 1939 due to lack of evidence. In 1928, a skin purchased by Lord Rothschild was found to be intermediate in pattern between the king cheetah and spotted cheetah and Abel Chapman considered it to be a colour form of the spotted cheetah. 22 such skins were found between 1926 and 1974. Since 1927, king cheetahs were reported 5 more times in the wild.

Although strangely marked skins had come from Africa, a live king cheetah was not photographed until 1974 in South Africa's Kruger National Park. Cryptozoologists Paul and Lena Bottriell photographed one during an expedition in 1975. They also managed to obtain stuffed specimens. It appeared larger than a spotted cheetah and its fur had a different texture. There was another wild sighting in 1986 - the first for 7 years.

By 1987, 38 specimens had been recorded, many from pelts. Its species status was resolved in 1981 when king cheetahs were born at the De Wildt Cheetah Center in South Africa. In May 1981, two spotted sisters gave birth there and each litter contained one king cheetah. The sisters had both mated with a wild-caught male from the Transvaal area (where King Cheetahs had been recorded). Further King Cheetahs were later born at the Centre. This mutation has been reported in Zimbabwe, Botswana and in the northern part of South Africa's Transvaal province.

Phylogenetic history	back to top

An evolutionary history of the cheetah has been constructed by paleontologists from fossils and, more recently, by geneticists using DNA. Present records date carnivores to the Eocene epoch, about fifty million years ago, with the specialised family Felidae evolving in the Miocene about twenty million years ago. In the middle Miocene, early felids began their radiation into other cats with conical canines including the early cheetahs, Miracinonyx and Acinonyx, during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs, about eight million to twelve thousand years ago.
The cheetah is considered one of the earliest divergences in felid evolution, about 8.5 million years ago, compared to the large cats of the Panthera group, which still shared a common ancestor about 6 million years ago. The species known as Acinonyx pardinensis, which is larger than the modern species, migrated from North America to Asia, India, Europe, and Africa. The modern cheetah evolved into its present form about 200,000 years ago. Genetic research has shown that today’s cheetah populations are descendants of but a few animals that remained after the Pleistocene era about 10,000 years ago, at which point the population experienced a founder event generally referred to as a population bottleneck. The cheetah somehow survived this time of mass extinction and the population gradually increased. The cheetah was first classified as Felis jubatus, but early taxonomists soon realised that the cheetah was unique from all the other cats and placed it into the monospecific genus Acinonyx Brooks (1828), of which there is only the one species jubatus. The translation of the cheetah’s scientific name Acinonyx jubatus is a reference to the species’ semi-retractile pointed claws. In Greek, a means not, kaina, means a thorn, and onus, means a claw. A more direct translation may be non-moving claws, and jubatus, in Latin means maned, as young cheetahs have a crest or mane on the shoulders and back. Although seven subspecies have been identified, five subspecies are considered valid by most taxonomists. These are Acinonyx jubatus venaticus, Acinonyx jubatus hecki (Hilzheimer 1913), Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii (Fitzinger 1855), Acinonyx jubatus raineyii (Heller 1913), (Schreber 1776) and Acinonyx jubatus raddei (Hilzheimer 1913).

Biology & life history

Habitat

Cheetahs are distributed primarily throughout the drier parts of sub-Saharan Africa with vast expanses of land where prey is abundant. Aside from an estimated one hundred cheetahs living in Iran, the distribution of the cheetah is now limited to Africa. In Namibia, it has been found in a variety of habitats, including grasslands, savannahs, dense vegetation, and mountainous terrain. Ninety-five percent live on commercial farms. They are not generally associated with forest habitats and are absent from the Sudano-Guinean forest savannah belt of west Africa. However, although cheetahs are most frequently observed on open grassy plains, they also make extensive use of bush, scrub, and open woodlands. Observations suggest that cheetahs expend more energy hunting in open country than in cover. A mosaic of woodland and grassland is probably preferred. Cheetahs are well adapted to living in arid environments. They are not obligate drinkers and, in the Kalahari desert, have been estimated to travel an average of 82 km between drinks of water. They were observed to satisfy their moisture requirements by drinking the blood or urine of their prey, or by eating tsama melons.


© A. Dickman		© A. Dickman

Land tenure system

Males are very sociable and group together for life, usually with the brothers from the same litter; although if a cub is the only male in the litter then two or three lone males may group up, or a lone male may join an existing group. These groups are called coalitions. A coalition is six times more likely to obtain a territory than a lone male, although studies have shown that lone males keep their territories just as long as coalitions - four to four and a half years.

Males are very territorial. Females' home ranges can be very large and trying to build a territory around several females' ranges is impossible to defend. Instead, males choose the points at which several of the females' home ranges overlap, creating a much smaller space, which can be properly defended against intruders while maximizing the chance of reproduction. Coalitions will try their utmost to maintain territories in order to find females with which they will mate. The size of the territory also depends on the available resources; depending on the part of Africa, the size of a male's territory can vary greatly from 37 to 160 km2.

Males mark their territory by urinating on objects that stand out, such as trees, logs, or termite mounds. The whole coalition contributes to the scent. Males will attempt to kill any intruders and fights often result in serious injury or death.

Unlike males and other felines, females do not establish territories. Instead, the area they live in is termed a home range. These overlap with other females' home ranges; often it will be the sisters from the same litter or a daughter's home range overlapping with her mother's. Females, however, always hunt alone, although once their cubs reach the age of five to six weeks they take them along to show them how it is done. The size of a home range depends entirely on the availability of prey. Cheetahs in African woodlands have ranges as small as 34 km2, while in some parts of Namibia they can reach 1,500 km2. Although there have been no studies, it is expected that the home ranges of females in the Sahara are the largest of all the cheetah populations.

Feeding ecology

The cheetah is a carnivore, eating mostly mammals under 40 kilograms, including Thomson's Gazelle and Impalas. Wildebeests and calves are preyed upon when cheetahs hunt in groups. Guineafowl and hares are also hunted. While the other big cats mainly hunt by night, the cheetah is a diurnal hunter. It hunts usually either early in the morning or later in the evening when it is not so hot, but there is still enough light - the cheetah hunts by vision rather than by scent. Prey is stalked to within 10-30 metres (30-100 ft), then chased. The chase is usually over in less than a minute, and if the cheetah fails to make a quick catch, it will often give up rather than waste energy.

Another reason the cheetah may give up is because running at such high speeds puts a great deal of strain on the cheetah's body. When sprinting, the cheetah's body temperature becomes so high that it would be deadly to continue - this is why the cheetah is often seen resting even after it has caught its prey. If it is a hard chase, it sometimes needs to rest for half an hour or more. Roughly half of the chases are successful.

The cheetah kills its prey by tripping it during the chase, then biting it on the underside of the throat to suffocate it, for the cheetah is not strong enough to break the necks of the gazelles it mainly hunts. The bite may also puncture a vital artery in the neck. Then the cheetah proceeds to devour its catch as quickly as possible before the kill is taken by stronger predators.

Reproduction

Females reach sexual maturity within twenty to twenty-four months, and males around twelve months (although they do not usually mate until at least three years old), and mating occurs throughout the year. Females give birth to up to nine cubs after a gestation period of ninety to ninety-eight days, although the average litter size is three to five. Cubs weigh from 150 to 300 grams at birth. Unlike some other cats, the cheetah is born with its characteristic spots. Cubs are also born with a downy underlying fur on their necks, called a mantle, extending to mid-back. This gives them a mane or Mohawk-type appearance. Is is thought to camouflage the cub in dead grass and hiding it from predators; this fur is shed as the cheetah grows older. It has been speculated that this mane gives a cheetah cub the appearance of the Ratel, to scare away potential aggressors.

Mortality rate is very high during the early weeks, and up to 90% of the cubs are killed during this time by lions, hyenas or even by eagles. Cubs leave their mother between thirteen and twenty months after birth. The cheetah can live over twenty years, but its life is often short, for it loses its speed with old age.

Unlike males, females are solitary and tend to avoid each other, though some mother/daughter pairs have been known to continue for small periods of time. The cheetah has a unique, well-structured social order. Females live alone except when they are raising cubs and they raise their cubs on their own. The first eighteen months of a cub's life are important - cubs learn many lessons because survival depends on knowing how to hunt wild prey species and avoid other predators. At eighteen months, the mother leaves the cubs, who then form a sibling, or 'sib', group, that will stay together for another six months. At about two years, the female siblings leave the group, and the young males remain together for life. Life span is up to twelve years in wild, but up to twenty years in captivity.

Diseases & Genetics	back to top

Over the past few years, the impact of infectious diseases on endangered species has become well known. Cheetahs are known to be very susceptible to several feline diseases, and are possibly more vulnerable to such diseases due to the lack of heterogeneity in the population. In addition, captive populations world-wide have been known to have a high prevalence of unusual diseases that are rare in other species, and these diseases impede the goal of maintaining self-sustaining populations. Although the specific causes of these diseases are not known, the character of these diseases implicate stress as an important underlying factor, and genetic predisposition and diet are possible confounding factors. While it is assumed that these diseases did not historically affect wild populations, there is concern that these diseases may arise in wild animals that are trapped, held in captive facilities and translocated. Additionally, there is concern that cheetahs may transmit or acquire infectious diseases through these actions. Diseases with high incidence are glomerulosclerosis, amyloidosis, helicobacter associated gastritis, veno-occlusive disease of the lever and focal palatine erosion. Lymphoplasmacytic gastritis, glomerulosclerosis, renal amyloidosis and veno-occlusive disease have an unusually high incidence in captive cheetah. There is a group of neurological diseases with lower incidence such as Leukoencephalopathy, Progressive hind-limb paralysis in adult cheetahs, Acute hind limb ataxia in cheetah cubs, Spongiform encephalopathy.

Cheetah and humans		back to top

The earliest record of the cheetah’s long association with humans dates back to the Sumerians, 3,000 BC, where a leashed cheetah, with what appears to be a hood on its head, is depicted on an official seal. It was believed in Egyptian history that the cheetah would quickly carry away the Pharaoh’s spirit to the Afterlife and symbols of cheetahs have been found on many statues and paintings in royal tombs. Cheetahs were used for hunting in Libya during the reign of the pharaohs. Cheetahs were not hunted to obtain food, but for the challenge of sport, known as coursing. In Italy, cheetahs were coursed during the fifth century. Russian princes hunted with cheetahs in the 11th and 12th centuries, and, at the same time, crusaders saw cheetahs being used to hunt gazelles in Syria and Palestine. The best records of cheetahs having been kept by royalty, from Europe to China, are from the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. Cheetahs also were used for hunting in Russia. Eighteenth and 19th century paintings indicate that the cheetah rivalled dogs in popularity as hunting companions.		© A. Dickman
During his 49-year reign as an Indian Mogul in the 16th century, Akbar the Great had more than 39,000 cheetahs in total, which were called Khasa or the Imperial Cheetahs, and he kept detailed records of them. However, all the cheetahs kept for hunting and coursing purposes were taken out of the wild from free-ranging populations. Because of this continuous drain on the wild populations, the numbers of cheetahs declined throughout Asia. In the early 1900s, India and Iran began to import cheetahs from Africa for hunting purposes. In Africa, the cheetah was important to many local ethnic groups: the San hunting communities of southern Africa ate cheetah meat for speed; traditional healers used cheetah foot bones for fleet-footedness; and kings wore cheetah skins for dignity. These practices, combined with exportation to other countries, contributed to the beginning of the cheetah's decline in Africa.

Threats

Decline in prey, loss of habitat, and indiscriminate trapping and shooting as a livestock predator threaten the survival of the cheetah throughout its range. Intraguild competition from more aggressive predators decrease cheetah survivability in protected game reserves, causing larger numbers of cheetahs to live outside protected areas and therefore coming into conflict with humans. As human populations change the landscape of Africa by increasing the numbers of livestock and fenced game farms throughout the cheetah’s range, addressing this conflict may become the most important factor in their conservation.

A further concern is that cheetahs breed poorly in captivity and wild populations have continued to sustain captive ones. Until the 1960s, most cheetahs were imported from East Africa but, as the numbers of cheetahs decreased in this region, Namibia became the major exporter of cheetahs. Today more than 90% of all cheetahs in captivity are descendants of Namibian cheetahs. This additional pressure, together with ineffective captive breeding programmes, further endanger cheetah populations.

Viable populations may be found in less than half of the countries where cheetahs still exist. All populations are listed on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix I and are classified as Vulnerable or Endangered by The World Conservation Union (IUCN) (CITES 1984, CITES 1992). The largest remaining wild population of cheetahs is found in Namibia.

a) Deterministic factors

Habitat alteration

Because of increasingly fragmentation of habitat resulting from human development, cheetah populations become vulnerable to inbreeding and the loss of genetic diversity.

Habitat removal

The fragile semi-arid habitat of cheetah is being degraded and in some places returning to desert. Spreading agriculture, industries, human settlements, mining and infrastructure has altered about 96% of the natural habitat of the I.R. of Iran. Most rural people also raise livestock, which compete with gazelle, urial sheep and wild goat - cheetah's main prey species.

Prey scarcity

Most rural people raise livestock, which compete with gazelle, urial sheep and wild goat - cheetah's main prey species. Cheetahs are killing approximately 8% of the adult Thomson's gazelle population each year.

Human-induced mortality

Human predation on cats involves hunting and trapping, legal and illegal. Trophy hunting, mainly for the big cats, has declined in recent years because of bans in many countries. Local hunting and trapping of cats is still widespread because of their predation on livestock and just for sport. All the spotted cats, big and lesser, have been trapped for their beautiful pelts. Campaigns against the use of wild furs, and the growing strength of the Convention on International Trade in Wild Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) have checked this onslaught.

The vast majority of Namibia's cheetahs reside on the commercial farmlands, where there is abundant prey-base and a lack of large competitors, such as lions and spotted hyenas. Therefore the cheetahs are placed in direct conflict with livestock and game farmers. Sixty percent of Namibian ranchers do not practice any form of livestock management. Consequently, over 10'000 cheetah are believed to have been killed between 1980 and 1991. CCF initiated different livestock protection measures, which led to a dropping of cheetah removals by farmers. CCF spent three years surveying livestock and wildlife farmers to identify problem areas in livestock and wildlife management, which are leading to the cheetah’s decline. The Namibian commercial farmers offer the greatest hope in the struggle to sustain a free-ranging cheetah population for future generations.
The research has shown that most recently farmers have more tolerance for cheetahs and are killing less, and those that are being killed are linked to livestock losses. More frequently farmers are calling CCF to help them.

Many cheetah skins smuggled from Somalia and Ethiopia are being sold annually in curio shops in Djibouti city. Peddlers there offer baby cheetahs, despite a ban on trade. Cheetahs have almost complete disappeared from Djibouti, where they were still common 10 years ago.

The demand for wild-caught adult cheetahs is a drain on populations in several ways. For every cheetah trapped, tamed and trained successfully, several die in the process.

The cheetah is undoubtedly one of the most outstanding attractions for tourists visiting the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. Of all the predator cats, however, the cheetah is most vulnerable to tourism. They are shy, but often occur in open habitats where they are easily found. These factors render them susceptible to the pressures of tourism. Excessive tourists numbers and poor wildlife observation practices can affect their hunting success, reproductive success, and cub mortality.

b) Stochastic factors

Demographic viability

Juvenile mortality in cheetahs is found to be extremely high compared to other large mammals, with approximately 72.2% of litters dying before they emerge from the lair at eight weeks of age. An average of 83.3% of cubs alive at emergence die by adolescence at 14 months of age, thus cheetah cubs are estimated to have only a 4.8% chance of reaching independence at birth. Lion predation is the major source of this mortality, although some cubs die from starvation after they are abandoned by their mothers, or as a result of grass fires and inclement weather.

Cheetahs have suffered, and continue to suffer, high levels of removal due to conflict with local farmers, and it is important to understand the demography of this population in order to determine its likely persistence. Examination of cheetahs reported live-trapped or killed by local farmers, combined with subsequent information from radio-telemetry, allow demographic parameters such as sex ratios, age and social structure, litter size, interbirth intervals and survivorship to be estimated for cheetahs on Namibian farmlands. Cub mortality is relatively low, but adult mortality is high, particularly for males, and peaks at 5-6 years of age.

Data are known on the demography and reproductive success of cheetahs living on the Serengeti Plains, Tanzania over a 25-year period. Average age at independence is 17.1 months, females give birth to their first litter at approximately 2.4 years old, interbirth interval is 20.1 months, and average litter size at independence is 2.1 cubs. Females who survive to independence live on average 6.2 years while minimum male average longevity is 2.8 years for those born in the study area and 5.3 years for immigrants, with a large proportion of males dispersing out of the Plains population. Females produce on average only 1.7 cubs to independence in their entire lifetime and their average reproductive rates are 0.36 cubs per year or 0.17 litters per year to independence. Variance in lifetime reproductive success in the cheetah is similar to that of other mammals.

Genetic viability

A potentially critical factor for the long-term persistence of the cheetah is its lack of genetic variation relative to other felids. The genetic structure of the cheetah has received considerable attention over the past years. It has been suggested that the genetic homogeneity could make the species more susceptible to ecological and environmental changes. This has been interpreted in the context of two potential risks, including the expression of recessive deleterious alleles, and increased vulnerability to viral and parasitic epizootics that can affect genetically uniform populations. Given the lack of genetic diversity, monitoring the overall health of cheetah populations is an important component of understanding and promoting long-term viability.

Obstacles to conservation

Farmers attitudes toward cheetah removal

Many indiscriminate removals do seem to occur, as almost sixty percent of the farmers that do not consider cheetahs problematic still remove cheetahs. A logical explanation to this deals with traditional predator control attitudes common worldwide. Predators are often eliminated weather they are perceived as a problem or not.

Economical needs of the people vs. ecological requirements of the cheetah

The farmer’s interests are in economical gain, be it through the sale of livestock, or selling game as trophies to foreign hunters. The problem is that the vast majority of Namibia's cheetahs reside on the commercial farmlands, where there is abundant prey-base and a lack of large competitors.

Limited knowledge

In many areas, especially in the North African region, we have extremely limited knowledge on the status of the cheetah and their prey.

Conservation and legal status	back to top

Population Status IUCN Red List: Vulnerable. The total number of cheetahs in sub-Saharan Africa has been variously estimated at 15,000 (Myers 1975), 25,000 (Frame 1984), and 9,000-12,000 (Kraus and Marker-Kraus 1991), and a wide-ranging survey is in progress to develop a better grasp of the cheetah’s current status. The two largest metapopulations of cheetah are now believed to occur in east Africa (Kenya and Tanzania) and southern Africa (Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia). Density and abundance vary widely according to environmental conditions, especially the occurrence of suitable prey and other large predators. In the Serengeti Plains ecosystem, cheetahs concentrate seasonally in association with migratory movements of Thomson’s gazelle. Estimating cheetah density is complicated by their unusual social organization. Both solitary male and female adults are semi-nomadic, having large, overlapping home ranges of the order of 800-1,500 km2. Coalitions of males, on the other hand, have been found (in the Serengeti) to defend small territories of the order of 12-36 km2, but up to 150 km2. These territories periodically hold big numbers of Thomson’s gazelle, the favoured prey of female cheetahs, and females were often observed in the males’ territories. The wild cheetah is nearly extinct in Asia. Once widely distributed throughout Asia, the cheetah has suffered a devastating decline of available habitat and prey. A small number (100 – 200 individuals) of Asian cheetahs still survive in small pocketed areas through Iran, and possibly in the boarding areas of Pakistan. Protection Status CITES Appendix I. An Appendix 1 quota system was established under CITES in 1992 for live animals and trophies, with annual quotas allocated as follows: 150 (Namibia), 50 (Zimbabwe), 5 (Botswana). National legislation: fully protected over most of its range. Hunting prohibited: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zaire. Trophy hunting permitted: Namibia. Zambia, Zimbabwe. No information: Chad, Sudan.

Sources

Anonymous. 2003. Iran Cheetah Project.

Berry, H. H., Bush, M. E., Davidson, B., Forge, O., Fox, B., Grisham, J., Munson, L., Nowell, K., Marker-Kraus, L., Martenson, J. S., Hurlbut, S., Howe, M., Schumann, M., Shille, T., Stander, F., Venzke, K., Wagner, T., Wildt, D. E., Ellis, S., and Seal, U. S. Editors. 1997. Population & Habitat Viability Assessment for the Namibian Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) and Lion (Panthera leo) Workshop Report, 11-16 February 1996 Otjiwarongo, Namibia.

Bianco F., Bracch P.G. 2001. Captive bred cheetah behaviour, Annali della Facoltà di Medicina Veterinaria 21, 47-60.

CCF. 1995. Cheetah survival depends on Namibian ranchers

Cheetah Conservation Fund Namibia: http://www.cheetah.org

Durant S. M. Cheetahs and Tourism - The Serengeti Cheetah Project

Eaton R. L. 1974. Conservation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheetah

Jackson P. The status and conservation of wild cats

Kelly M.J. et al, 1998. Demography of the Serengeti cheetah population: the first 25 years.

Marker L. L. 2002. Aspects of Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) Biology, Ecology and Conservation Strategies on Namibian Farmlands. Thesis. Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford.

Venter L. J. A Review of Diseases in Cheetah, see http://bigfive.jl.co.za/cheetah_diseases.htm

Population Status

Protection Status