Dec. 4 is International Cheetah Day. It was established in 2010 by the Cheetah Conservation Fund to raise awareness about the dwindling populations and shrinking habitats of the fastest land animal on Earth.
The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is one of the most endangered big cats in the world, with a severely fragmented population of around 7,100 individuals in the wild. It has disappeared across roughly 91% of its historic range, surviving largely within fenced-in national parks across Africa and a small population of critically endangered Asiatic cheetahs in Iran.
The species, classified as vulnerable on the latest IUCN Red List assessment, has decreased by an average of 37% over 15 years due to habitat loss and conflict with humans. The population is expected to continue falling.
A tribute to a conservationist
On March 16 of this year, leading cheetah conservationist Vincent van der Merwe died. Mongabay founder Rhett Butler wrote an obituary highlighting Merwe’s important contributions to the survival of cheetah populations in southern Africa.
The Cheetah Metapopulation Initiative, founded by Merwe, worked to prevent genetic collapse from inbreeding among cheetahs, a growing challenge as populations become increasingly fragmented. Merwe and his team would capture and transport adult cheetahs between reserves to ensure genetic variation among isolated populations.
“His methods worked,” Butler wrote. “Thanks in part to Van der Merwe’s efforts, South Africa became the only country where wild cheetah numbers were rising.”
Project reintroducing cheetahs to India under scrutiny for deaths
Cheetahs went extinct in India in 1952. In an attempt reestablish its wild population after 70 years, the nation launched Project Cheetah. In 2023, India imported 12 cheetahs from South Africa and another eight from Namibia.
But international criticism of the project grew as nine of the 20 adult cheetahs brought to India died, Simrin Sirur reported for Mongabay India. And of 26 cubs born there, another nine suffered fatal health complications.
South African conservationists called the deaths “unjustifiable.”
Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) mother and cub in South Africa. Image courtesy of Ron Magill.
Banner image: Image of cheetahs, by zgmorris13 via Pixabay (CC0).
