South African cheetah

South African cheetah[1]
A South African cheetah at the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve, South Africa.
Conservation status
Vulnerable  (IUCN 3.1)[2]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Felidae
Genus:	Acinonyx
Species:	A. jubatus
Subspecies:	A. j. jubatus
Trinomial name
Acinonyx jubatus jubatus (Schreber, 1775)
Synonyms
Acinonyx jubatus lanea (Sclater, 1877) Acinonyx jubatus obergi (Hilzheimer, 1913)

The South African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus), also known as the Namibian cheetah,^[3] is the most numerous and the nominate cheetah subspecies. Since 1986, it has been classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN.^[2]

The total population of the South African cheetah has been estimated at more than 6,000 individuals. Since 1990 and onwards, the population was estimated at approximately 2,500 individuals in Namibia, until 2015, the cheetah population has been increased to more than 3,500 in the country.^[4] In 2007, there were 1,800 in Botswana, 550-850 in South Africa, 400 in Zimbabwe, 100 in Zambia, more than 50-90 in Mozambique and more than 25-50 in Malawi.

Historically, it was believed all cheetahs were genetically homogenous.^[5] This changed in January 2011, when the Asiatic cheetahs and the Sudan cheetahs were revealed to be distinct even from their closest relatives from South Africa.^[6][7]

Characteristics

The South African cheetah is a medium-sized cat. An adult male cheetah's total size can measure up from 168 to 224 cm and 162 to 214 cm for females.

The South African cheetah have a bright yellow or sometimes a golden coat, and its fur is slightly thicker than that of other subspecies. The white underside of the South African cheetah is very distinct, especially on the neck and breast, and it has less spotting on its belly. The spots on the face are more pronounced, and as a whole its spots seem more dense than those of most other subspecies. The tear marks of the South African cheetah are notably thicker at the corners of the mouth, and almost all of them have distinct brown mustache markings. Like the Asiatic cheetah, it is known to have both white and black tips at the end of its tail.

Distribution and habitat

The South African cheetah usually lives on grasslands, savannahs, arid environments and mountains. The cheetah can be found in open fields and over 90% of the cheetah population are found outside protected areas such as game reserves, in farmlands.^[8]

Prey

The South African cheetah preys on medium-sized and large antelopes and hares. It prefers impala, kudu, puku, oribi, springbok, gemsbok, steenbok, wildebeest, Cape hare, warthog, red hartebeest, and other ungulates.

Conservation

A South African cheetah from the Africat Foundation, Namibia.

There are several conservation projects for the cheetah species in Africa and Iran. Like the Asiatic cheetah, the South African cheetah got more attention from people than the other subspecies.

Three cheetah subpecies are included on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) list of vulnerable species (African subspecies threatened, Northwest and Asiatic subspecies in critical condition) as well as on the US Endangered Species Act: threatened species - Appendix I of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species).

Founded in Namibia in 1990, the Cheetah Conservation Fund's mission is to be the world's resource charged with protecting the South African cheetah and to ensure its future. The organization works with all stakeholders within the cheetah's ecosystem to develop best practices in research, education and ecology and create a sustainable model from which all other species, including people, will benefit. Approximately 12,400 cheetahs remain in the wild in twenty-five African countries; Namibia has the most, with more than 2,500 to 3,500. There have been successful breeding programs, including the use of in vitro fertilisation, in zoos around the world.

Reintroduction project

India

Asiatic cheetahs have existed in India for thousands of years, but as a result of hunting and other disastrous causes, cheetahs have been extinct in India since the 1940s. The critically endangered species currently live in Iran, as the country itself is unwilling to give their Asiatic cheetahs to India. A captive propagation project has been proposed. Minister of Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh told the Rajya Sabha on 7 July 2009, "The cheetah is the only animal that has been described extinct in India in the last 100 years. We have to get them from abroad to repopulate the species." He was responding to a call for attention from Rajiv Pratap Rudy of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). "The plan to bring back the cheetah, which fell to indiscriminate hunting and complex factors like a fragile breeding pattern is audacious given the problems besetting tiger conservation." Two naturalists, Divya Bhanusinh and MK Ranjit Singh, suggested importing South African cheetahs from Namibia, after which they will be bred in captivity and, in time, released in the wild.^[9]

However, the plan to reintroduce the South African cheetahs to India has been suspended after discovering the distinctness between the cheetahs from Asia and Africa, having been separated between 32,000 to 67,000 years ago.^[10][11]

References

Wikispecies has information related to: Acinonyx jubatus jubatus

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