Cheetah
Acinonyx jubatus
M . Pittet
Description
The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is, most closely related to the puma (Puma concolor) and the jaguarundi (Herpailurus yagouaroundi), based on molecular evidence Genetically four subspecies of cheetah can be recognised:
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A. j. hecki in North and West Africa
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A. j. jubatus in Southern and eastern Africa
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A. j. soemmerringi in Northeast Africa
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A. j. venaticus previously in North Africa to central India, presently only remaining in Iran
Based on the average mammalian mutation rate and mtDNA estimate it is hypothesized that A. j. venaticus and the A. j. jubatus diverged around 32,000-67,000 years ago.
As the divergence times between these lineages are very recent, further research is needed.
The cheetah has a tawny-coloured coat covered almost entirely with solid black spots, which are unlike the rosette shaped spots of the leopard (Panthera pardus). Each cheetah has a unique spot pattern, often used for identification purposes. Cheetahs are easily recognisable by the heavy black lines extending from the inner corner of each eye to the outer corner of the mouth, often referred to as ‘tear lines’.
The coat colour and spot pattern of cheetahs may vary - in arid, desert regions cheetahs are generally smaller and paler in colour whereas the King cheetah has much larger spots, often merging into stripes. This rare variation in the coat pattern results from a single-locus recessive genetic mutation. As it is a genetic mutation, the King cheetah is not considered as a sub-species. Individuals with this specific coat pattern are found in a small area of southern Africa. Even rarer is the spotless cheetah, a completely tawny-coloured cheetah with no black markings. Asiatic cheetahs may can be distinguished from African ones by a thinner, less woolly winter coat and the absence of a mane, patches of enlarge guard hairs around the shoulder region, in the summer. Some authors stated that African cheetah has in general a darker or brighter fur colour, with a higher density of larger spots, than the Asiatic cheetah. Cheetahs of the subspecies A. j. venaticus seem to on average to be of smaller size and to have more inflated tympanic bullae than their African relatives.
The cheetah is well known for being the fastest land mammal and is built for speed with an elongated body and long legs. Cheetahs have numerous morphological adaptations for speed, including:
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Long limbs, large thigh muscles and a very flexible spine - enables cheetahs to take strides up to 7 m and cover up to 29 m/s.
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Semi-retractable claws - the cheetah cannot completely retract its claws thereby giving extra grip when running and turning at high speeds.
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A long tail - the tail is half the head body length and helps the cheetah to maintain balance during their high-speed hunts.
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Enlarged lungs, heart and nasal passages and smaller canines relative to other felids - a reduction in the size of roots of the upper canines allows the development of a larger nasal aperture for increased air intake which is critical for allowing the cheetah to recover from its sprint while it suffocates its prey by throttling it.
The English name ‘cheetah’ comes from the Sanskrit word ‘chita’, meaning ‘spotted’. The scientific name for cheetah is Acinonyx jubatus, where Acinonyx means ‘non-moving claws’ and jubatus means ‘maned’ or ‘crested’, referring to the mantle that cubs have on their neck and back. Cheetahs were kept as pets by humans for hundreds of years. So called “cheetah keepers” were responsible for training and maintaining the cheetahs of royalty until 1500.
Weight
23 - 65 kg
Body Length
113 - 140 cm
Tail Length
60 - 84 cm
Longevity
upto 14 years, 20 years in captivity
Litter Size
1 - 6 cubs
P. Meier
Status and Distribution
The cheetah is globally listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. The subspecies A. j. venaticus remaining only in Iran and the subspecies A. j. hecki in northwest Africa are both classified as Critically Endangered. The cheetah is listed as possibly extinct in Eritrea and as regionally extinct in Afghanistan, Burundi, Cameroon, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, India, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Malawi, Mauritania, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Western Sahara. In Eswatini the cheetah was reintroduced, and in India the cheetah is currently being reintroduced.
Cheetahs are well-adapted to dry conditions and were formerly found in savannas and arid environments right across Africa, including North Africa, all the way to the Middle East and down to central India.
The cheetah only remains in 11%, 22%, and 9% of its historical range in eastern Africa, southern Africa and northwestern Africa, respectively. Today, the cheetah is primarily found throughout the drier parts of sub-Saharan Africa and is still quite widely distributed in southern and eastern Africa, with two remaining strongholds in Namibia/Botswana and in Kenya/Tanzania. However, their range is increasingly fragmented and highly restricted. The species has declined in western, central and northern Africa. Much of the cheetah’s range lies in the Sahara, where it occurs at very low densities of 0.023 individuals per 100 km2. Sixty-seven percent of the current cheetah population lives outside protected areas in regions where lions and spotted hyenas have been extirpated and 77% of known cheetah range lies outside of protected areas. Density and abundance vary widely according to environmental conditions. In the Serengeti plains the density was estimated to range from 0.8 to 1.0 / 100 km². Density in well managed protected areas was estimated at 1 / 100 km² and the density in largely unprotected areas was estimated at 0.25 / 100 km². The density in Saharan habitat was estimated at 0.25/100km², and density of two subpopulations in West and Central Africa was estimated at 0.1 mature adults / 100 km². All known cheetah populations are relatively small, and for many countries their numbers are not known. The number of mature individuals is tentatively estimated at 6,517 animals and the number of subpopulations at 33. Of these 33 populations, only two have an estimated size of over 1,000 mature individuals, two thirds comprise fewer than 100 individuals and six fewer than ten individuals. Of 18 populations where trends could be assessed, 14 are declining, three are stable and one is potentially increasing.
In Asia, the cheetah has disappeared from almost all of its entire historic range. Historically, it occurred from North Africa, into the Arabian Peninsula, Palestine and Syria, eastward through Iraq, Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan to central India. It is thought that the Asiatic cheetah disappeared from Central Asia by the mid-1980s. In India, the last record of an Asiatic cheetah dates back to 1948 when the last remaining individual was shot. In Afghanistan, no more sightings of the cheetah have been reported since the 1950s. Iran is the only country where a small population of Critically Endangered Asiatic cheetahs persists. There are some occasional records from neighbouring countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. The Asiatic cheetah is believed to be divided into three subpopulations occurring in northeastern Iran, central Iran and in Kavir National Park, Iran. The main causes for its disappearance in many areas was probably the depletion of its wild prey, habitat alterations, killing and the illegal capture of live cheetahs.
Asiatic cheetahs occur at low densities over vast arid areas. Before World War II, the cheetah population in Iran was estimated at around 400 individuals and thought to range over large steppe and desert areas in the east of the country and in some western areas. Afterwards, Asiatic cheetahs and their prey species were highly reduced mainly due to poaching. The protection of cheetahs by law in 1959 led to an increase in numbers. In the late 1970s, the population was estimated to be around 200-300 individuals. However, in 1979 the revolution caused wildlife conservation to stop for several years and cheetahs and their prey species were again subject to high exploitation. This led to the disappearance of Asiatic cheetahs from many areas and their restriction towards the foothills and mountainous habitats. In 2001, the cheetah was thought to occur in only five areas and the population was estimated at less than 60 or even 40 individuals. There are indications of a dangerous ongoing decline in cheetah numbers and the population is now estimated to be less than 50 mature individuals.
Habitat
The cheetah inhabits open grassland and savannah habitat. It is also found in dry forest, semi-desert, open woodlands and shrubland and is absent from the tropical rainforest. In the central Sahara, the cheetah can be found in high mountain habitat which has slightly more rainfall than the surrounding desert. The Asiatic cheetah mainly inhabits desert, semi-desert and open dry areas. In desert ecosystems they are found in hilly terrains and mountainous areas. Cheetahs occurring in Central Asia were found in semi-desert and desert plains, and foothills with a range of different vegetation types. In Iran, the cheetah inhabits plains and saltpans, eroded foothills and desert ranges with precipitation lower than 100 mm per year. Sufficient cover for hunting and resting seems to be an important habitat requirement. The Asiatic cheetah occurs also in mosaic areas of plains and rolling mountains with various watercourses, where gazelle density is low. It seems that cheetah concentrate more on areas where it is easier to catch gazelles rather than on areas where gazelle abundance is high. It occurs up to an elevation of 2,000 – 3,000 m and on Mt. Kenya cheetahs were recorded up to 4,000 m.
M. Pittet
Ecology and Behaviour
The cheetah is mainly active during the day. Whilst this diurnal activity is believed to reduce competition with nocturnal predators, such as lions and spotted hyenas, recent studies have shown that cheetahs are surprisingly active at night and that this activity is positively correlated with the amount of moonlight available. It is difficult to determine if this is a result of lower competition or higher levels of human activity.
The social organisation of cheetahs is unique among felids. After cheetahs leave their mother, male and female litter mates will usually stay together for about six months before separating and going their separate ways. Once separated, females will remain solitary, or are accompanied by dependent young, while males will either be solitary or form a coalition with other males. Coalitions usually consist of 2-3 males, usually related individuals, but can also consist of unrelated males. The largest group of cheetahs anecdotally reported in Iran, based on sighting, was up to 10 individuals. In recent years, the observed group size was on average 2.3 animals. Female cheetahs do not show mate fidelity and tend to mate with multiple males.
Although females are non-territorial, male cheetahs can establish small territories (average 30 km²) that typically contain resources such as prey to attract females. However, not all males are able to acquire a territory; coalitions are better able to hold territories than single males as they are more powerful and therefore have a competitive advantage. Females and non-territorial males have large and overlapping home ranges. The sizes of home-ranges vary immensely between the studies that have been carried out in different areas. In Kruger National Park, South Africa, and Matusodona National Park, Zimbabwe, home-ranges for both semi-nomadic females and males are >200 km², in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, they are around 800 km² and in Namibia they are on average 1,595 km². In areas with migratory prey, cheetahs without territories tend to follow their prey. Territories established by territorial males are significantly smaller than home-ranges and will rarely overlap as these are areas that contain defensible resources such as prey, water and mates. It is hypothesised that cheetahs have their unique social structure and wide-ranging patterns to avoid competition with larger and stronger predators. Similarly, their low density may be limited by interspecific competition or prey availability. Prey density in Iran is quite low, thus it is likely that the home ranges of Asiatic cheetahs are very large. However, there is little data available. A coalition of two adult males in Bafq covered an area of more than 1,700 km² within five months. A coalition of three males covered an area of approximately 4,862 km² between their birth and 3 years of age. Their mother covered at least an area of 3,629 km². The movement of another male cheetah covered at least a range of 807 km². All these Asiatic cheetahs ranged across multiple reserves in central Iran and crossed several roads when moving from one reserve to the other. It is not fully clear why the cheetahs move through vast areas of low suitability to reach another protected area. One possible explanation could be that low prey density, maybe related to poor vegetation cover in this arid climate, and poaching, could trigger these lengthy movements. Also patches of widely dispersed habitat maintaining essential resources such as medium-sized prey species can result in a large home range.
Males, whether territorial or not, scent-mark to advertise their presence by spray-marking, scratching, and defecating on prominent features in the landscape; such features may include termite mounds, shrubs, fallen branches and trees. Marking trees, also known as ‘play trees’ are the preferred feature and are typically large, conspicuous trees to which the cheetah returns repeatedly. Several male cheetahs were pictured in Iran scent marking a sign post with urine. This scent marking behaviour is crucial to allow overlap of home ranges with minimal direct encounters, while also enabling animals to find each other for breeding.
The cheetah is well adapted to live in arid environments and as such is not an obligate drinker, satisfying its moisture requirements by drinking the blood or urine of their prey or by occasionally eating tsamma melons in the Kalahari desert.
The reproductive season is year-round although birth peaks have been reported during the rainy season in the Serengeti. Based on little available data on Asiatic cheetah, the peak of the birth season seems to be in March-April, but birth times may vary in different ecological regions. In northern parts it seems to take place mainly in late March/early April. There are some observations of birth taking place outside the peak season, in late summer and/or early fall. Both sexes will mate with several partners and a genetic study revealed that cubs of the same litter can have different fathers. Age at first reproduction for females is 24-36 months and 30-36 months for males. Age at last reproduction for females is 10 years and for males up to 14 years. The gestation period lasts for 90-98 days and the inter-birth interval ranges between 15-19 months. When a female has lost her litter, she will quite readily go into oestrus and conceive. Cheetah cub mortality is high - over two thirds of cubs die during their first two months mostly due to predation by other carnivores, especially lions, spotted hyaenas and leopards. Smaller predators such as jackals, secretary birds and honey badgers, can also contribute to cub mortality. In the Serengeti in Tanzania, it was found that only 5% of cubs reached independence, while in the Kgalakgadi Transfrontier Park in South Africa/Botswana about 35% of cubs survived to independence. Sub-adults reach independence and leave their mothers around the age of 13-20 months. Within 6 months of leaving their mothers, females leave their sibling groups while surviving males can stay together for life.
The cheetah is a high-speed cursorial hunter, reaching speeds of up to 103 km/hr during a chase. As cheetah’s prey may change direction, and also to circumvent obstacles, actual speeds, is likely be lower than this. The cheetah will generally first stalk its prey before chasing the prey at full speed over relatively short distances, seldom more than 300 m. When prey is abundant, cheetahs tend to hunt every 2-5 days. When a female has cubs, then hunting becomes a daily activity. Cheetahs rarely defend their kills and can lose to up to 10% of their kills to other larger carnivores (kleptoparasitism). For example, in the Serengeti, Tanzania, cheetahs lose up to 12.9% of their kills, of which 78% were taken by spotted hyenas and 15% by lions. To avoid competition with other predators they generally hunt during the day and do not stay with their kill for a long time. Cheetahs rarely scavenge or return to a previously abandoned kill.
M. Pittet
Prey
The cheetah tends to prefer the most abundant prey species with a body mass range from 10-56 kg. This includes impalas (Aepyceros melampus), gazelle (Gazella spp.), kob (Kobus kob), springbok (Antidorcas spp.), warthog and other antelopes. They will also prey upon smaller animals such as hares (Lepus spp.) or birds. Coalitions of males can take larger prey such as wildebeests (Connochaetes), kudu (Tragelaphus spp.), or eland (Taurotragus oryx). When cheetahs hunt herd animals, they tend to select the less vigilant individuals and depending on the season they capture mostly immature animals. In east Africa, the cheetah’s main prey is the Thomson’s gazelle (Eudorcas thomsonii) on the plains and the impala (Aepyceros melampus) in the woodlands. In northern Kenya, its primary prey species are lesser kudu (Tragelaphus imberbis), gerenuk (Litocranius walleri) and dik dik (Madoqua spp.), and in southern Africa, it mainly preys on springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis), greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) calves, warthog (Phacochoerus spp.), impala and puku (Kobus vardonii). Asiatic cheetahs mainly feed on medium-sized herbivores. In Iran, they mainly prey on ungulates such as wild sheep (Ovis orientalis), wild goat (or Persian Ibex) (Capra aegagrus), chinkara (or Jebeer gazelle) (Gazella bennettii) and goitered gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa). The Asiatic cheetah also takes cape hares (Lepus capensis) and occasionally wild boar (Sus scrofa). Prey species concentrate periodically in dry watercourses and in the foothills of mountains, thus cheetahs are likely to focus their hunting effort in such areas. Cheetahs may also prey on small mammals such as rodents and small birds. However, birds such as See-See partridge (Ammoperdix griseagularis), Chukar partridge (Alectoris chukar), black-bellied sandgrouse (Pterocles orientalis) or Houbara bustard (Chlamydotis undulata), do not seem to play a significant role in the cheetah’s diet. There is very little evidence of livestock consumption by the Asiatic cheetah although it occasionally does occur in north-eastern Iran.
P. Meier
Main Threats
The main threats to the cheetah are habitat loss and fragmentation, land use change, retaliatory killing, illegal trade of the species and prey depletion due to overhunting, bushmeat harvesting and illegal trade, which often leads to higher predation on livestock and therefore to more conflict with humans.
Habitat loss and fragmentation are the main threats and are largely a result of changes in land-use management, increase in resource extraction and extensive infrastructure development, and climate change. Fragmentation and encroachment of the cheetahs’ habitat can result in fragmented subpopulations, a decrease in prey availability and an increase in larger predator densities, causing a higher level of intra-guild competition and increased contact with humans and their livestock.
A major threat to cheetahs is also a reduction in their natural prey, predominantly caused by human activities such as hunting and livestock grazing. In the deserts of Northern Africa and Iran, depleted wild prey is for of great concern.
Another threat is the illegal trade of skins and live cheetahs. A common practice for the live trade is to shoot the mother and take the cubs in order to sell them on the black market and there is an increasing trade in cubs from northeast Africa into the Middle East. Most live cheetahs seem to be traded from the Horn of Africa and surrounding regions to the Gulf States. Many captured cubs die during transportation. In Somaliland and Ethiopia, the mortality rate of confiscated cubs is as high as 70%, with actual numbers likely being even higher as many dying cubs may never be detected. When kept in captivity, cub survival is also likely to be low as they are kept in inappropriate conditions. Cheetah populations in the Horn of Africa are likely to be most affected by the illegal trade in live animals, while skins of cheetahs are traded within Africa and to Asia.
Additionally, (perceived) livestock depredation poses a problem across most of the cheetah’s range. Despite intensified conservation and education efforts and the fact that research shows that cheetahs are only responsible for few livestock losses, human-wildlife conflicts are still an issue. Farmers still consider cheetahs as a problem and a threat to their livelihood. It is thought that excessive and unregulated tourism and poor wildlife observation practices can additionally affect cheetah hunting success, reproductive success and cub mortality due to separation from their mother. Cheetahs are occasionally also caught in snares set for the bushmeat trade.
The cheetah is wide ranging and occurs at very low densities. Due to its wide-ranging spatial patterns, it needs large areas to survive and large-scale land management planning is required to connect viable populations. Most protected areas are not large enough to sustain viable populations and the majority of cheetahs lives outside of protected areas on farmland exposing them to higher risks of conflicts especially with livestock and game farmers. Game farmers see them as competitors for valuable game offtake. The cheetah is considered to be vulnerable to interspecific competition from other large carnivores, especially lions, which can limit cheetah abundance by killing their cubs or even adults. High speed roads also pose an increasing threat to the wide-ranging cheetahs.
Genetic analysis has shown that both captive and free ranging cheetahs exhibit a very high level of homogeneity in DNA and have high levels of abnormal sperm. The cheetah appears to have suffered a series of severe population bottlenecks in its history which may have led to inbreeding of remaining individuals. Based on mitochondrial DNA, the first such bottleneck may have taken place during the late Pleistocene extinctions around 10,000 years ago. Although these ancient population bottlenecks are not clear, both their causes and consequences could be of significance to cheetah conservation today. This lack of genetic diversity makes the cheetah exceptionally vulnerable and potentially susceptible to diseases such as mange (within the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem) and anthrax (in Etosha). The low genetic diversity is cause for concern due to the critically small and fragmented population of Asiatic cheetahs remaining. They maybe already be suffering from loss of genetic diversity through stochastic loss of rare genes and increased inbreeding. This can lead to lower birth rates, higher mortality and vulnerability to disease and parasites. Conversely, their low density, however, makes infectious diseases less likely to pose a major threat to free-ranging cheetahs.
The main causes of the Asiatic cheetah declines and extinctions are also poaching of cheetahs, depletion of their prey species, as well as habitat conversion and the construction of infrastructures such as highways.
The aforementioned threats are all proximate causes of cheetah decline driven by ultimate drivers such as political constraints, a lack of capacity and resources to support conservation, a lack of environmental awareness, rising human populations and a lack of will in local communities. In order to address the immediate threats, these drivers must be addressed.
Conservation Efforts and Protection Status
The cheetah is included in Appendix I of CITES and it is fully protected throughout most of its range. In addition, the cheetah is included in Appendix I of the CMS. Hunting is prohibited in Afghanistan, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Iran, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia. Trophy hunting is permitted in Zimbabwe and in a number of countries it is legal to kill cheetahs in defence of life and livestock. No information is available for Chad.
One important conservation measure for the cheetah is the promotion of better livestock management to reduce conflicts with humans. Another measure is the assurance of enough prey availability to reduce livestock depredation. Further measures include the improvement of monitoring, surveys and information exchange as well as capacity building, the promotion of human-cheetah coexistence, enforcement of policy and legislation along with the insurance that national land use planning allows viable cheetah populations. In Iran, the safeguarding of roads, too, is an important conservation measure.
To improve cheetah conservation, several networks have been established such as the Global Cheetah Forum and the North African Regional Cheetah Action Group. Most of the range states are involved in the African Range-Wide Cheetah Conservation Initiative formerly known as the Range Wide Conservation Program for Cheetah and African Wild Dogs. This programme supports the development of Regional Strategies and National Action Plans, aligned to IUCN guidelines. A global conservation strategy for the cheetah has been developed and several range states have created national action plans or conservation strategies. Three regional conservation strategies have been developed for Africa: one for Southern, one for Eastern and one for Western, Central and Northern Africa. National Action Plans are in place for Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Tanzania, South Africa, South Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Cheetahs are also included into the Large Carnivore National Conservation Action Plan of Uganda. These plans cover 96% of the known extant cheetah range. All these plans address both proximate threats and ultimate drivers of these threats. They all broadly include the improvement of national capacity for cheetah conservation and management, awareness raising of and political commitment to cheetah conservation, promotion of human-cheetah coexistence, improvement of land use planning and reduction of habitat fragmentation, improvement of policy and legislation and addressing the information needs for cheetah conservation.
The cheetah is part of the CITES-CMS Africa Carnivore Initiative, which informs decisions to improve the conservation status of the cheetah.
In 2001, the Conservation of Asiatic Cheetah Project (CACP) and the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) were established with the aim to save the species in Iran. Since then, more information on the cheetah’s distribution and status in the country has become available. Measures necessary to raise the protection level of cheetah habitat were implemented, education activities and awareness campaigns conducted, and conservation measures promoted.
Interest among young researchers for cat, carnivore and wildlife conservation and research in general has increased through the Asiatic cheetah conservation work and international awareness has been raised. The cheetah receives now more attention from the Iranian community. However, conservation measures have to be implemented in the long term to assure its survival. More monitoring activities are still needed to provide sufficient data on the Asiatic cheetah’s distribution and status in Iran. It is important to understand the factors influencing cheetah spatial ecology in order to develop effective and appropriate regional conservation strategies.
Most protected areas are not large enough to support a viable cheetah population. Therefore, effective conservation management outside protected areas is of high importance. A crucial point for the long-term survival of the Asiatic cheetah is the provision of enough wild prey. Its prey species must be protected and poaching must be prevented.
Conservation work is challenging at many levels: unstable political situations, non-existent enforcement where conservation regulations are in place, lack of incentives for local people to be engaged in conservation efforts, the need to raise awareness of conservation and environmental issues, little or no capacity and financial means to support conservation and increased pressures from a growing human population.
