Page 28 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #05

CHEETAHS

Data from the wild males Hifi and Sam has been
CHEETAH SCATIS KNOWNAS invaluable in helping us understand cheetah coalitions. A cheetah trio
scent-mark a
‘BLACK GOLD’BECAUSE OF We’ve also discovered from this pair that farmers don’t tree to define
their territory.
need to kill cheetahs to protect their livestock, so long
THE HUGEAMOUNTS OFDATA as there is good animal husbandry in place. Since the They will also
scent-mark
majority of cheetahs are found outside formally protected to alert their
YOU CAN GLEAN FROM IT. reserves, roaming widely across ranches and farmland, coalition mates
it is essential that we find ways to tolerate these majestic when separated.
cats. I thank Hifi and Sam for
monopolise females.” This could explain why coalitions showing me that this can be done.
are only advantageous in some circumstances. “The cheetah has been around HOW TO SEE CHEETAHS
Anne Hilborn has spent many years on Tanzania’s for thousands of years,” says
Serengeti plains, picking up cheetah poo – sometimes Laurie. “Yet the body of research on WHEN TO GO
known as ‘black gold’ by ecologists because of the huge this charismatic cat is less than five Cheetahs can be seen all year,but the
amounts of information you can glean from it. decades in the making. Fortunately, dry season is best for sightings.Namibia
“After studying thousands of cheetah scats, I found because of the critical research has the world’s largest population of
that female cheetahs are very promiscuous,” she says. we’ve recently done on the species, cheetahs,so is the top destination;
“Many of the cubs in a litter have different fathers. Even if we have finally learned how to Botswana,Kenya’s Maasai-Mara and
one member of a coalition fathers a cub in the litter, that coexist with cheetahs. That’s the northernTanzania are also good.
does not mean the other coalition members do as well.” key to creating a permanent place
TOUR OPERATORS
There may not be a reproductive benefit from being in a for them on Earth.”
Companies ofering tours in Namibia’s
non-related coalition, then. Anne has noticed that “males
Etosha National Park includeATI
sometimes sneak away from their coalition partners to try NIKI RUST is a carnivore
Holidays (www.ati-holidays.com),
to mate with females without competition”. conservationist at WWF;
Tracks Safaris (www.trackssafaris.
www.worldwildlife.org
co.uk),Wild Dog Safaris (www.wilddog-
THE BEST OF BOTH
safaris.com) andWildlifeWorldwide
So while males do well in coalitions when there is lots of
(www.wildlifeworldwide.com).
competition for females, it may make more sense to be a
solitary male in areas where there are fewer males. Then REHABILITATED CATS
you get to keep your dinner and your mate to yourself. Home to theAfriCat Foundation,
Namibia’s Okonjima lodge (www.
okonjima.com) ofers guaranteed
sightings of radio-collared cheetahs.

+ FIND OUT MORE
Learn more about
cheetah conservation
at www.cheetah.org
Cheetahs feature in Sean Crane/Minden/FLPA
Big Cats About The
House. Catch up on
BBC iPlayer.
28 BBC Wildlife Spring 2018