We have been extremely fortunate in the past few weeks to have been tracking down and finding a female cheetah with her adolescent son. We are so lucky here at Londolozi to have a relatively large number of lions and leopards in the area, with the cheetah being an animal that is quite a rarity for us to see.
One of the best locations for us to see cheetahs are in the more open, grassland areas. We will often find them sitting tall on fallen logs or pronounced termite mounds as they try to gain elevation to scan the region for any prey or threats.
It’s not just at Londolozi, though, that these animals are rare. The global population of cheetahs is around 6,500 to 7,100, according to a list of threatened animals from the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Today, cheetahs are found in the wild in several regions in Africa (South Africa is home to around 1,300 of the global population) and a tiny population of another subspecies, the Asiatic cheetah, is found in Iran. The last four decades have seen a decline in cheetah populations of about 50%, as well as a significant reduction in the historic range of the species.
In Africa, cheetahs are at the bottom of the predator hierarchy. This means that they need to navigate through their home range while staying out of the way of lions, leopards, hyenas and wild dogs. Fortunately, because they are most active during the day – the time when most other nocturnal predators are generally sleeping – they are able to keep a low profile.
So why are these animals so rare and threatened? Scientists believe that cheetahs have already survived at least two extinction events in their history, and one of the main reasons behind these animals facing extinction today is due, in part, to surviving their last threats of extinction. We call these events genetic bottlenecks.
What is a bottleneck?
A genetic bottleneck occurs when a population is greatly reduced in size, limiting the genetic diversity of the species as there is fewer individuals to mate with.
With cheetah populations reducing, there’s a possibility that these animals might be heading towards extinction. What many of us don’t know is that cheetahs have actually faced and overcome the threat of extinction before.
Genetic exploration of cheetahs shows they may have survived two historical bottleneck events that have greatly reduced their population size. When a bottleneck occurs, the few remaining cheetahs end up mating with relatives. Inbreeding decreases the size of the gene pool, leading to complications such as declined genetic variability and possible mutations. This makes it more difficult for the remaining population to adapt to changes in their environment.
The first bottleneck event: Species Range Expansion
Cheetahs are believed to have descended from the same ancestors as the American puma. The first bottleneck that cheetahs may have experienced is thought to have occurred around 100,000 years ago, when they extended their range into Asia, Europe, and Africa. This range expansion is thought to have happened quite rapidly, dispersing smaller groups of cheetahs over a very large area, and restricting their ability to interchange genes.
Range expansion is a crucial component of evolution. Animals move out of particular areas to find new resources, particularly if food and potential mates become scarce in their area.
The second bottleneck event: The Ice Age
The second probable bottleneck event took place about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, near the end of the last ice age. During this bottleneck, the cheetahs of North America and Europe went extinct, and so only the Asian and African populations survived. Due to only a few surviving individuals, more inbreeding occurred, reducing the genetic variability on a greater scale.
A possible third extinction…
During the 19th century, the cheetah population had a great increase, and the global population grew to as many as 100,000. However, their genetic variability stayed low due to the extreme bottleneck events that took place thousands of years previously. In other words, their own genes pose a challenge to their continued survival. Because of their shallow gene pool, they have a low rate of reproductive success, and with fewer offspring, the population can neither grow nor adapt to changes in the environment. Along with this, cheetahs are facing pressure from climate change, habitat loss, and human activities.
Knowing how low their reproductive success is, it’s always incredibly special to come across a mother cheetah with cubs. The litter will stay with their mom for about 18 months before leaving her to navigate towards their own range.
… Or a species on the rise?
That being said, there are a plethora of positive predictions for the future of cheetahs. In South Africa, we are experiencing a significant cheetah population growth, thanks largely to a nongovernmental conservation project that carefully manages and rehabilitates cheetahs. Globally, the species has made a remarkable comeback in the past, so there is no reason why they can’t do this again.
Cheetahs have suffered multiple genetic bottlenecks in the last 100,000 years. In today’s rapidly changing climate, it’s unclear if or when another bottleneck event will occur for these cats and how they will adapt. Judging by how they have already survived two near-extinct events, I have the highest hopes for this incredible species!
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Cheetahs are so special and beautiful. Their facial markings make them so unique and different to the rest of all the other cats.
Very interesting report Robyn on the genetic history of the cheetahs and how their lives are impacted today. I have recently seen a documentary and read a few articles that the cheetah population has been slowly growing in Kenya and Tanzania, perhaps because the gene pool there is not as corrupted. It seems there are a few cheetah rehabilitation properties throughout Southern Africa and hopefully the offspring that results from careful breeding, can be integrated back into the wild. They are such beautiful cats and every sighting is special, so I hope scientists and conservationists can come up with a plan to grow their numbers.
An interesting blog Robyn, Some nice pics also. Cheetah are really beautiful cats. Thanks for sharing.
Such graceful, athletic animals. I’m with you, hoping that proactive conservation efforts are successful.
Interesting post Robyn! And that cheetah photo from James T 2019 you included is really a beautiful one! 🥰👍🤩
Robyn it is heart breaking to see there numbers going down. But with the rehabilitation centre it could help tremendously to bring there numbers up. Beautiful cats and I love those black lines on their face.
Very informative. Hopefully they can survive this third genetic bottleneck (and us humans ) and the conservation efforts will sustain them.
I definitely learned something today with your interesting post on Cheetah genetic bottlenecks impacting their unfortunate decline. I suspected habitat reduction, global warming consequences and mankind’s interference, but had not considered their own genetic inbreeding. Let’s hope we can “interfere” somehow to help them thrive again!
I hope humans stop stealing baby cheetah from the wild and leave them in peace, this must be reached through education especially in the countries where most cubs go to. Thanks for the biology repetition lesson on the bottleneck extinction it was nice to read it again! Wonderful pictures to comment it
Cheetahs are such lovely animals. It would be such a tragedy if they became extinct.
A very interesting article, Robyn. I had not known that cheetah had become nearly extinct twice so far. And hopefully they will not in the future.
There is a project in India, where they resettled cheetah from South Africa to India. What do you think: Is this a good idea? Or will this drive cheetah still further into extinction? The cheetah population in India is very small. I wonder if this helps or if it is just done to use these wonderful animals to help India boast that they have now cheetahs as well.
I just love these cats but human pressure in them especially in East Africa is just squashing their ability to raise cubs successfully. I also have huge doubts about the reintroduction of cheetah to India. However I would certainly be thrilled if it does indeed look successful in the future.
Robyn, Thanks for the informative story on Cheetah changes. They are such graceful elegant animals. Let’s hope the conservation project helps their population grow!
Robyn, thank you for the interesting update on cheetah ‘s. I hope that they can survive and flourish in the future world we are headed into. Surly Londolozi will be a part of their survival.