Cheetahs Heading Towards Extinction As Population Crashes

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-38415906

How in earth have we allowed this situation to develop ?

For a change, this hasn't been caused by stupid rich Americans shooting them...its loss of habitat apparently.

What beautiful creatures !

[waterboatman]

Magnificent animals. Man's interference again, destroying their habitat.

[mushroom25]

//How in earth have we allowed this situation to develop ? //

simply that there are more humans on the planet than can be sustained, without turning more and more resources over to providing for them. more humans = more food required = more land required for farming = more land for more of them to live on. this is not sustainable, now or in the future. and if anyone who says so is branded racist for even suggesting it, then that turns nature conservation into a race issue.

either nature is important, or human expansion is. there's no room for both and society needs to decide.

[ladybirder]

Yes and it will only get worse and more and more magnificent animals will go the same way. We are ruining this planet. So sad.

[jno]

cheetahs have always had a problem. All the ones around today are thought to have descended from a single breeding pair around the end of the last ice age, so they were nearly extinct once before. It means very little genetic diversity, so if one dies of a bug, all of them could do so.

Also - they're not a very competent species. They're fast, but that's about all. They have weak jaw muscles so once they catch prey they can only eat the tender bits - usually, after that, some hyena will chase them away. (Unlike leopards, which are tough and smart and keep out of people's way; they survive virtually all the way from Cape Town to Siberia.)

There are people working to protect them, eg

http://www.africat.org/support/adopt-a-carnivore

but they're quite difficult to deal with as they domesticate easily. If you have a baby for 2 weeks, he's yours for life and may never want to hunt again.

[ladybirder]

But they're soooo beautiful ...;-)

[jno]

well, remember a baby cheetah is for life, not just Christmas...

[hereIam]

We need to realise that it's their world too and they are as entitled to a share of it as we are. We are too greedy.

[wildwood]

Notwithstanding anything above, cheetahs are unlikely to become extinct completely as there are many places where they are bred according to their genetic makeup so the genetics diversity in captivity is not a problem. Quite a few animals species have been brought back from the cusp of extinction by controlled breeding which assures a much wider genetic diversity than in the wild where it is often uncles/aunts who breed together.

The loss of habitat interferes with the natural habit of males (usually brothers) roaming far and wide to spread their genes. nowadays many towns and huge agricultural farms prevent them from going across the vast expanses needed for genetic proliferation.

It will be sad to only be able see them in parks in the future, but at least it is not completely too late for the Cheetah.

In the end; Would you rather see children die from starvation to save the Cheetah in the wild?

It has already been said above. Far too many humans for this little planet.