Cheetah Conservation Fund

Category: Cheetah - General, Cheetah - Research, Cheetahs | Date: Jun 21 2009 | By: cheetahconservation

It’s good to be back in the Reserve and getting back to work. A few grey hairs later, and I think I may have finally got a fix on Shanti. The signal is weak but it is the first audible signal I’ve got since being back. I think she’s still in the Moringa Valley area and seems to be fairly settled there as even when I was up at CCF, that’s where the others found her each day. I’m extremely pleased she hasn’t yet ventured over the hills too far, and I’m going to continue to track her from a distance as not to push her at all. If the opportunity to get a sighting presents itself, I’ll take it but only with caution. She’s still too unstable to harass at the moment I think, and hope you all agree. Let’s see what I can come up with tomorrow… (the map is of Shanti’s whereabouts)

The males on the other hand, are still doing extremely well and since their last kill (Monday evening, presumably another young Zebra), have eaten again. This time I’m certain they’ve gone back to bigger game as the poor guys were so full last night they could barely move. Even today they hardly did a thing, opting to spend the day resting as opposed to doing anything that requires movement. This evening however, they did manage to drag themselves around to the other side of the fence to say hi to Misty and Rosy.

That’s it for now, but when I get more you’ll be the first to know. Thanks, -James

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Category: Cheetah - General, Cheetah - Research, Cheetahs, Uncategorized | Date: Jun 14 2009 | By: cheetahconservation

It seems like we may a have a slight problem with Shanti. Her position now is a critical one. I strongly believe that she is somewhere up in the mountains on the border of the Reserve. If so, she has two paths: one back into the Reserve of tough, high hills or, an easier one down through the valley on to farmland. And I think it’s the farm where our boys weren’t too welcome.

The boys seem well though, and I think they’ve managed to catch some smaller game again, possibly a young Springbok. I looked for a kill site but couldn’t find anything. It’s interesting to see that when they don’t kill something large, it looks like there is a hierarchical order as to who gets the most food. It’s just speculation but every time they come back full, but not too full, it’s easy to see that Lindt, Cadbury and Kia have usually eaten a lot, while Mushara looks a little bit less full and Ra appears to have had the least. He’s still eaten, but not nearly as much. I don’t think their digestion would be all that different, so who knows? It’s something I’d like to look at more in depth for sure.

Also, after coming back from tracking Shanti, I was rewarded with a sighting of a female leopard and her cub near a place called “Cheetah Rocks”. Thanks to Jeff from SDL for the tip-off! She looked very healthy and most definitely the one whose tracks we spotted the other day around here. I guess the really do come down out of the hills this time of the year. They disappeared too quickly for pictures unfortunately but maybe I’ll come across them again.

I’ll be in touch as soon as I learn more about Shanti but she’s in a very undesirable place at the moment. We’ll just have to see what we can do.

Thanks,

James.

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Category: Cheetah - General, Cheetah - Research, Cheetahs | Date: Jun 13 2009 | By: cheetahconservation

I’m going to skip most of the story today and cut right down to brass taxes. I’m a little worried about how much pressure to put on Shanti. Going out to try and get a better look at her yesterday, she disappeared again. We had been tracking her across the plains in the South-Eastern corner of Moringa Valley, and so as not to spook her, we stuck to the river beds and as much cover as possible. Still, when we must have been at least 1.5 – 1km away, the signal strengthened, weakened and then vanished as she ran over the hill. I’m just worried that by constantly chasing her, we’re putting too much strain and stress on her, and with that pressure she should be spending her time hunting as opposed to evading us.

I think I’ll just have to let her be for awhile again, only getting signal information from her. That said, I still don’t have any idea about her present condition which is the problem. Any comments or suggests would be most welcome.

As far as our boys are concerned, life seems to be back to a normal “routine”. They were unsuccessful in the Keerweder Pan last night it seems and have since wandered into the veld just West of Boscia watering hole where they spent much of the day resting. It looks like they weren’t in a rush to get back to the pens for a change so hopefully they stay out over night and catch something then.

Interestingly, I’ve noticed a huge increase on Leopard activity in the area. There’s the one still hanging around its kill site with the Oryx, we found tracks of a smaller, presumably female in the riverbeds of Moringa Valley as we tracked Shanti and there were more tracks of another large male walking up towards the Boscia watering hole as we searched for the boys. Apparently, this is the time of the year that they come down out of the mountains. I just hope our boys and girls have enough sense to remain wary.That’s it for now but I’ll be in touch again soon. Thanks, -James.

PS - On the map for Shanti: Red: where she was roughly, Green: where she ran to roughly. –J.

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Category: Cheetah - General, Cheetah - Research, Cheetahs, Uncategorized | Date: Jun 11 2009 | By: cheetahconservation

It’s been a short day, as a lack of vehicles inhibited me from getting out again this afternoon. No matter though, as I got lots of info this morning for us. To start with, I went out to look for Shanti this morning after seeing no signs of our new friend, the resident Leopard. I tracked her from the same place I did yesterday and her signal was even stronger than normal, so, I went after her thinking she might be down on the plains or at least travelling in a river bed closer by. Either the signal was bouncing across mountains or she saw us and ran, the latter being the more probable. We walked and walked up and down hills until Paul and I were in the middle of the mountains dividing the Draaihoek and Moringa Valley areas. Here, the signal completely disappeared and even though we searched high and low for it, couldn’t pick it up again. By this time, we were pretty exhausted and on top of my coffee deficiency by this point, poor Paul was suffering with a mooi babelaas after his 21st birthday yesterday… We turned back to make another plan.

On the way back, I wanted to check on the wounded Oryx and seen if she was still around. As we slowly approached, the young calf ran from one bush to hide behind another, obviously shaken by our approach. This was unusual, because before it hasn’t been that bothered by us at all. Then we saw the tracks and the drag marks. The Leopard must have got her sometime last night and even though she was massive (she hadn’t been walking for awhile yet was still feeding regularly…) the Leopard had managed to drag her over 100m and was guarding his prize under a large bush. This is Nature’s way and although it’s easy to feel sorry for the calf, this is how things work. We left the obviously irritated Leopard in peace, and I’m just glad he did manage to eat as we had just walked past him (at a distance of course) to try and find Shanti…

I noticed on the map that Shanti may have used an old path to head into Moringa Valley and decided to drive around and see if I could catch up with her on the other side. Before I went, I took a quick look to see how the 5 males were doing and it looked as if they had wandered off into the Keerweder pan, probably on a hunting trip. Sure enough, they were across the main road and in the process stalking a pair of Zebra, much to the pleasure of a German man and his son who had been passing through at the right time. They were very respectful of the Cheetahs, remaining quiet and not getting out of their car to take picture so, I filled them in on the details of the project and we watched in amusement as they walked up to the two fully-grown Zebra. Suddenly, a young foal exploded from the grass in front of them, obviously the real attention of the boys. They took off after it, Kia in front with Lindt hot on his heels. All the Zebra had bolted but, turning on a dime, the two parents stopped to confront the Cheetahs. They may not always show signs of intelligence but I’m glad they did here and they decided to abandon the chase. They wandered out further into the pan, two very excited Germans continued their journey and I was off to Moringa Valley. The Zebras continued to eat the grass around them. Shanti has definitely come out on the other side of the pass and although I probably could have found her, she was still up in the hills a little ways and the last thing I wanted to do was chase her back over the Mountains again. As I was trying to decide if I would walk any further, I had my mind made up for me when I realised I need to turn back as the Land Cruiser was needed by Mike and Ann this afternoon. I left her in peace again but the area she is in now is perfect. Nice and open with a lot of game. Plus, this area hasn’t seen any known Cheetah activity yet so, it may prove to be an easier hunting ground for her. Time will tell. That’s all for today. I’m sorry there wasn’t more but I can’t hog the trucks all the time! Take it easy, James. PS The photo of Shanti was taken by Rob Thomson at the CCF grounds prior to her release at NamibRand.

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Category: Cheetah - General, Cheetah - Research, Cheetahs, Uncategorized | Date: Jun 11 2009 | By: cheetahconservation

Mushara (photo by James)

Today was something else. I mean, even for our five, they did practically nothing (that I could see) all day! They were resting in the morning and then moved a couple of hundred metres around the corner and stayed there all afternoon. I think they may be resting up before going out hunting again tomorrow. Sometimes they seem lazier than normal the day before heading off, but they aren’t usually this bad. Maybe they had a bad night’s sleep with all the wind again yesterday, who knows? So I can’t report much besides Kia looked like he was scouting around for game (just looking, not moving of course…) and Mushara got up and stretched once. That’s about it really.

Shanti is a little more interesting though. She’s moved another good distance again and is hugging close to the mountains between the Draaihoek area and the Moringa valley, not too far from where I last caught a sighting of her. I followed her (with the signal, not visual) for most of the morning and saw that eventually she must have stopped in a crevice up the side of the hills, like she did last time.I wanted to wait for a bit to let her settle down before chasing her off so, I went a little further down the road to check on an injured/sick Oryx who can’t walk, as her back legs have given in. She was first discovered during the Game Count on Sunday and when we went out to try and euthanize her, we realised she still had a very young calf with her that must be still suckling. We decided it would be best not to do anything in the end and just let nature take its course. Finding her today, near her resting place, we discovered some tracks and then caught a glimpse of our new friend, the Draaihoek Leopard. I imagine he’ll probably finish the job for us but we lost sight of him quickly and even though Paul and I tried to locate him again, he was gone. This put us in a predicament for sure. Shanti was safe but, we couldn’t go out walking when he was out in the bushes somewhere close by. Very frustrating but, if he does feed this evening I doubt he’ll pose a threat to us tomorrow, as long as we don’t push our luck. Nice to see him again though, as long as he stays away from the cheetahs, of course.

I checked again and Shanti was still in the same spot this evening so we’ll just have to wait and see if we can get to her in the morning. As long as she doesn’t trek over the mountains, getting a good sighting shouldn’t be a problem. Wish us luck!Thanks, -James.

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Category: Cheetah - General, Cheetah - Research, Cheetahs | Date: Jun 10 2009 | By: cheetahconservation

Well, it’s been another interesting day down here at NamibRand. Although the boys were fairly relaxed today, they’ve managed to achieve their goal of catching another young Zebra. The must have got it the other day when I saw them on the kill and judging from the crime scene, I think they surprised the group as they were resting. The flattened grass, churned up ground and masses of hoof prints lead me to this conclusion. Also, this would tie in with the near-full moon again and I think it’s fairly well proven now that whenever they get the chance, they use this to their advantage. It is clear that the boys are getting better at killing and leaving the site. They’ve had a lot more meals than that I can assure you, but finding them in the tall grass or even trying to locate the area is very tricky.

I found Shanti’s location today and I think she’s resting in another river bed. I didn’t want to go after her as I thought
that approaching her in a more confined area might freak her out a little. She still seems to be doing great however, and her movements appear normal to me. I guess she likes to travel along these paths as, like the mountains, they provide her with a little more cover and leave her less exposed. Today was incredible windy, and I was nearly blown from the roof of the Cruiser a couple of times while tracking! So, she may have been taking shelter from the elements as well (Nils, you were right about those Eastern winds!).

Other news, as I was looking for Shanti this morning, we got a call from Abraham saying that he had just seen a big Leopard drinking from the Porcupine watering hole. I wasn’t far from here, and couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Sure enough, we saw a massive male hanging around and stayed with him, watching from a good distance. He was very relaxed and sure of himself, marking just about every large tree he went past. I reckon this could be the guy who the boys met up with as I highly doubt there would be more than one leopard in such a small territory. A good sighting none the less and at least we know to be careful around the area now! He must have weighed in between 60-65kgs. Very cool. I don’t think we’ll have a problem with Shanti meeting up with this brute though, as she seems to be just a little more intelligent and cautious than the males…

I’ll keep you posted though and, let you know what tomorrow brings. Later, -James

PS from Patricia: The picture is of Mushara and Cadbury at sunset, taken from James’ photo album. Thanks, James!

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