Cheetah Research Project, Namibia

THE CALL

5:00AM

The call from Rebecca and Ralf came the day before, ”We’ve had some success in our recently placed traps; two brothers are secured in our manual traps on at the Elephant Lodge, would you like to join us for the day observing our research activity?”

Leibniz Research Institute has been carrying out research on the Namibian Cheetah population since 2002 The project seeks to understand Cheetah movement, patterns, sociological trends, numbers and distribution in areas of interest. Data is collected and tracking collars fitted to assist with data collection.

Leaving Windhoek in the early hours, we set off eastwards and driving through the inevitably stunning sunrise which Africa is renowned for. The roads in Namibia are straight and long, over undulating terrain scattered with countless Camel Thorn trees and Buffalo Thorn tree – infamously known in Southern Africa as the Wag-‘n-bietjie (wait-a-bit tree) – circumnavigating Kopjes and hill ranges.

Arriving at the Lodge we were met by the research team and proceeded out to the trap site; two types of traps are used to capture big cats, one a technically advanced system whereby movement beams activate the mechanism when cut by a body part, the other utilises a basic step pivot to activate the trap. Both systems function with falling doors either end of the traps; in this case, two basic systems were placed side by side to ensure both brothers could be secured.

The placement of the traps have been developed over the lifetime of the research Project; farmers had identified that the cats frequented specific tree features and utilised this knowledge to set hides to eliminate, what for generations, was perceived as pests which hunted and killed the farmer’s calves. This situation; leading to dwindling numbers of Cheetah in Namibia, was the catalyst for research investment in this field. The Institute knew the cats did not pose a major threat to the Farming Community, but needed raw data to prove this.

The brothers are known as Floaters; they do not manage and defend a territory, but rather roam between established territories, using innocuous trees as rendezvous points, these have been established for a millennia. The scientists term these specific trees as marker trees; they can be viewed as similar to our modern day social media hubs, where scents and markings are left for other Cheetahs to inspect and explore, messages are left via urine and scent marks. Information such the health of the other cats, and whether any have diseases which are to be avoided is interpreted by all visitors.

One by one the brothers were tranquillised and removed from the traps; a full spectrum analysis was conducted on each cat, one at a time. Fur, blood samples, urine and faeces were harvested, measurements of their length and head circumference registered; specific markings to allow accurate data to be formulated was composed, all essential as the team continue to understand the Cheetah in Namibia. This breed of big cat is specifically susceptible to contracting various debilitating diseases; they will only eat fresh meat from kills that they themselves make, they will not scavenge and do not take their kill with them to consume at a later time, so they are also susceptible to being chased off of their kill by other predators.

Upon completion of the sample and data collection; the cats were placed under a nearby shaded bush where they slowly regained consciousness, calling to one another in bird like chirps. The continuous research has armed the Institute with actionable data; solid numbers and statistics to feed into the cattle farming community, one such example of effective data interrogation facilitated a trial whereby a farmer who had previously lost a number of calves to Cheetah was asked to rotate his cattle out of the area where the marker trees were. The researchers identified that the Cheetah will visit these hubs on a rotating basis and removing the temptation of easy prey that calves offered would prevent the impending clashes between cat and farmer.

Thank you to the researchers and scientists of the Leibniz Research Institute for the invitation to be hosted on that spectacular day; a fantastic opportunity to witness these beautiful cats and learn so much from the team

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