Cheetah in Namibia

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Florian Weise is the lead researcher at the N/a’an ku sê Cheetah and Leopard Research Programme in Namibia.  We have been working with Florian for the last few months to develop FIT as a montoring tool for cheetah in Namibia.

marking good prints
Florian marking good prints to image on a sandy trail in a cheetah rehabilitation enclosure

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Much of Namibia’s land is commercial farmland, and wild cheetah range over this area also.  Not surprisingly, many farmers who have lost livestock to cheetah have viewed this endangered species as vermin.  The key to success in their conservation lies in finding ways for the farmers and cheetah to co-exist.  Monitoring the numbers and distribution of cheetah enables researchers to advise farmers appropriately on protection and engage them in the conservation effort.  There are estimated to be fewer than 2,500 cheetah in Namibia, one of the species last strongholds.

Early tests on cheetah footprints at N/a’an ku sê  suggest that an FIT algorithm can be developed for this species.  N/a’an ku sê  is spearheading a continent-wide effort in Africa to engage other cheetah conservation organisations to participate in this effort.  We are delighted to have the Cheetah Conservation Fund and AfriCat join us in this initiative.

FIT and cheetah monitoring

FIT can provide comprehensive data on numbers and distribution. In areas with suitable substrate, most places an animal goes it will leave footprints. By collecting these prints during the day, we are able to monitor the full range of the animal’s activity, which may have occurred day or night. In contrast, many visual observation or standard radio-collar telemetry data collect details of numbers and distribution only during the day, and less frequently because observations are expensive or animals difficult collecting wild printsto see. Florian Weise, research director of Na’an ku se Wildlife conservation centre in Namibia sums up many of these points when he says:

"My opinion is that the public perception of the cheetah's habitat is strongly biased towards the open plains of the Serengeti and Massai Mara environments. However, most cheetahs live and are researched in bushed environments, especially in Namibia. As a matter of fact, the cheetah is a rather cryptic species in bushy habitat and direct monitoring is very difficult, if not impossible. Consequently, we have a strong need for robust indirect monitoring techniques to assess population status, movements, habitat use and other parameters of cheetah ecology. FIT could provide us with exactly that opportunity and I envision it as a solid tool for population monitoring at the local, national and regional scale. In most environments where direct observations are rare, much of the necessary information is gathered from footprints and identification of individuals from these is therefore crucial. San trackers, for example, have mastered this skill and technique over ten thousands of years and FIT can build on and incorporate this precious knowledge and give it a more 'objective' touch. In addition, FIT could help us identify cheetahs involved in livestock predation. As a result, "problem cheetahs" could be captured selectively and be translocated to conservation areas to alleviate human-carnivore conflicts on farmlands and help stop the indiscriminate removal of cheetahs’