‘Cheeting’ Endangerment
The Cheetah, renowned for its astonishing speed, used to be a common sight throughout not only Africa but also Arabia, India, Pakistan and other countries.
However, the Cheetah has been on the Red Data listing for over fifty years, (currently listed as vulnerable rather than endangered), and can only be found in certain parts of Africa and small areas in Asian countries.
As with a great many other endangered wildlife species, the reason for the declining numbers of the Cheetah population must rest squarely at the feet of mankind, with increasing populations and requirement for land to farm.
Cheetahs hunt on huge expanses of open ground, and as farmland encroached on its hunting grounds, less prey could be caught and the Cheetah found it harder and harder to survive.
The actual population is difficult to estimate but it is believed that there are less than 12,000 worldwide and in South Africa perhaps as few as 1500 with around 300 in nature reserves, 600 in the wild and 550 in captivity.
Breeding programmes are used to ensure the survival of the species, including one based at the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre. Cheetahs bred in captivity are released into safe areas in the wild once they have been given exposure to how life will be through time spent in enclosed areas, where the rations they receive are reduced over time to encourage them to hunt natural prey.
After many checks to see if they are likely to adapt to the wild, suitable Cheetahs are released into areas where they have the best chance of survival. At Hoedspruit, over thirty Cheetahs born at the centre have been released.
For anyone interested in voluntary work with animals in the field of conservation, the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre not only runs a breeding programme for Cheetahs, but also cares for injured and orphaned animals including lions and African wild dogs. If you would like to learn more about this kind of work in other areas just click here.
As for that top speed….. well, there are various figures given, but it seems that the Cheetah can go from 0 to 60 mph (96 mph) in only three seconds with a possible speed of 112 kph, for a short distance only but that’s an awful lot faster than humans can run – even Mr Bolt himself!
ENDS
