Author Topic: Cheetahs 'sprinting' towards extinction: wildlife study  (Read 1237 times)

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rangerrebew

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Cheetahs 'sprinting' towards extinction: wildlife study
« on: December 27, 2016, 12:16:51 pm »
Cheetahs 'sprinting' towards extinction: wildlife study
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By AFP     42 mins ago in Environment
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Cheetahs are "sprinting" to extinction due to habitat loss and other forms of human impact, according to a new study out this week which called for urgent action to save the world's fastest land animals.

Cheetah numbers in Zimbabwe have plunged by more than 85 percent in 16 years and fewer than 50 individuals survive in Iran, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) warned.

The report's authors said cheetahs should be listed as "Endangered" instead of "Vulnerable" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/cheetahs-sprinting-towards-extinction-wildlife-study/article/482453#ixzz4U2XyybIh

Offline Gefn

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Cheetah headed for extinction with just 7100 left, wildlife experts warn
« Reply #1 on: December 27, 2016, 04:03:30 pm »
The world's fastest land animal, the cheetah, is in danger of extinction because it is running out of space, research led by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has found.

After a sharp decline in numbers there are now just 7,100 cheetahs in the world, or 9 percent of the historic range, the ZSL, Wildlife Conservation Society and Panthera study found.

In Zimbabwe, the study found, these pressures have seen the cheetah population plummet 85 percent from 1,200 to at most 170 animals in just 16 years.

Wildlife experts are calling for the big cat to be rated "endangered", up from "vulnerable" among threatened species, to give it greater environmental protection.

Capable of sprinting up to 75 miles per hour in short bursts, the cheetah is notoriously secretive and information on its status had been difficult to gather, meaning its predicament had been overlooked, the study said.

"Our findings show that the large space requirements for cheetah, coupled with the complex range of threats faced by the species in the wild, mean that it is likely to be much more vulnerable to extinction than was previously thought," said Dr Sarah Durant, who is leading the cheetah conservation programme.

The study said that cheetahs were vulnerable to several dangers such as prey loss due to overhunting, habitat loss and illegal trafficking. Added to that, more than three-quarters of cheetahs live outside protected wildlife areas and, because they roam wide, are more vulnerable.

(Reporting by Elisabeth O'Leary; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)


http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-environment-cheetah-idUKKBN14G0Z9
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Offline Gefn

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Re: Cheetah headed for extinction with just 7100 left, wildlife experts warn
« Reply #2 on: December 27, 2016, 04:05:31 pm »
Mods, wasn’t sure where to post this. So sad. We don’t have a kitty ping here- so I hope cat lovers see this.

Ping @Hopalong Ginsberg



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Offline Just_Victor

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Re: Cheetahs 'sprinting' towards extinction: wildlife study
« Reply #3 on: December 28, 2016, 02:59:08 pm »
This isn't the first time the cheetah has faced extinction.  I recall a documentary about the cheetah, where they ran an experiment on captive animals and found that the genetic makeup of the cheetah was so narrow that skin swatches could be exchanged between any two cheetahs and the foreign skin was not rejected by the host animal.  The indication was that the breeding population of cheetahs was estimated to be in the low double digits and inbreeding led to the entire population of cheetahs that are genetically related.
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Offline Cripplecreek

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Re: Cheetahs 'sprinting' towards extinction: wildlife study
« Reply #4 on: December 28, 2016, 03:23:08 pm »
This isn't the first time the cheetah has faced extinction.  I recall a documentary about the cheetah, where they ran an experiment on captive animals and found that the genetic makeup of the cheetah was so narrow that skin swatches could be exchanged between any two cheetahs and the foreign skin was not rejected by the host animal.  The indication was that the breeding population of cheetahs was estimated to be in the low double digits and inbreeding led to the entire population of cheetahs that are genetically related.

I've read the same. They passed through an evolutionary bottleneck leaving little genetic diversity. Sometimes animals are on their way to extinction with no help from us.

There is a plausible that humans passed through an evolutionary bottleneck as well after the supervolcano Toba erupted plunging the globe into a volcanic winter and 1000 year cool period.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toba_catastrophe_theory
« Last Edit: December 28, 2016, 03:23:55 pm by Cripplecreek »

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Re: Cheetahs 'sprinting' towards extinction: wildlife study
« Reply #5 on: December 28, 2016, 03:29:36 pm »
I can has Cheezeburger has pictures of baby cheetahs this morning with said article.

http://cheezburger.com/1291781/cheetahs-are-unfortunately-sprinting-toward-the-endangered-species-list-with-only-7100-left-in-the?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=FeedBlitzRss&utm_content=Cheetahs+Are+Unfortunately+Sprinting+Toward+the+Endangered+Species+List+With+Only+7%2c100+Left+in+the+Wild

So darn cute. I'm a sucker for kittens of any cat species. My kryptonite. Now you all know how to get anything from me, show me a kitten.
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Online Fishrrman

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Re: Cheetahs 'sprinting' towards extinction: wildlife study
« Reply #6 on: December 29, 2016, 04:09:53 am »
This one apparently wants to hang around:

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Re: Cheetahs 'sprinting' towards extinction: wildlife study
« Reply #7 on: December 29, 2016, 04:11:50 am »
This one apparently wants to hang around:


Thank you for that picture @Fishrrman
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