Cheetah Conservation Fund

Category: Cheetah - General, Cheetah - Research, Cheetahs | Date: May 25 2009 | By: cheetahconservation

The day has finally come. The boys moved far enough away today and not wanting to wait any longer, I let Tisha and Shanti out. Well, to be precise they let themselves out. After a morning of checking and double checking that the boys wouldn’t come back, I cut the fence at around 14:00 on 24th May.

Paul and I waited up on the hill in the pen and Abraham, Paul #2 and Willem waited by the feeding site. We all hoped to see the girls run off into the sunset. So we waited and waited. And the others went home and Paul and I waited and waited but to no avail. At one stage I finally saw Shanti but she was watching us, and we were fairly well concealed I thought. Once we moved again behind some rocks, she was still watching us. Finally, after wedging down in to a crevice and not moving for about an hour, she walked over towards the small pan there, but just sat down. Just before the light went completely she moved down to where I think Tisha was resting but they never went for the food.

So, I rushed home and got the night vision goggles and went back out to try again. The problem is, it was a New Moon and pitch black out there. You need to be within 300m to see with the goggles so there was no hope. I left them to leave on their own and came back about an hour later to check up on them.

They’re free!!!!! They’ve left, and taken the meat which I left for them which I’m very pleased with (it was an extra larger portion, probably 4-5kgs each just in case…)

Now, they’ve gone off in different directions but where still very close. They’re probably still eating so I’m not unconvinced they won’t meet up again afterwards to head further out into the wild. I left them soon after as I didn’t want to scare them off their food.

Tomorrow will be a long day; I’ll be starting before it gets light so we have as much time as possible to track them and the boys…

Ok, off to bed. Thanks to everyone for their help and let’s see where these crazy girls drag me. Story of my life actually. Hmm. Later

James
NamibRand Nature Reserve
Cheetah Re-introduction Programme

No responses yet

Category: Cheetah - Research, Cheetahs | Date: Apr 24 2009 | By: cheetahconservation

It’s been an interesting time for the boys, and as you can see from the map, they’ve moved around quite a bit.

Last week they gave us a bit of a scare, when they started following the trail of the collared female. Those of you who also monitor her progress will know that she decided to walk out of the reserve last week and, presumably because she was in heat at the time, our boys attempted to follow her. They got to about 2.5 km of the reserve boundary, but after a prolonged rest in the hot sun, James was able to chase them back northwards where they have remained ever since.

The following morning a couple of the boys attempt to climb a tree, with less than spectacular success, and that afternoon they appear to start exploring more of the area (Lindt in the lead), ranging close to the eastern mountains. A few days later they again return to this area, but fortunately show no inclination to try and scale them.

After spending what is for them an unprecedented amount of time away from our females, the boys finally returned to the pens and proceeded to spend several days close by. Ra still does most of the courting (with Misty), although the boys have shown some considerable interest in Tisha and Shanti, although that interest isn’t returned in the slightest and those two stay well away from the fence. Unusually however, the boys have stopped fighting amongst themselves.

It’s been sometime since we found a kill site, but the boys are remaining in good condition, so they must still be hunting as needed.

Yesterday the boys drank from the waterhole close to park HQ (and James’ residence), before heading towards the mountains for much of the day. In the evening they again returned to the females’ pen.

Rob

No responses yet

Category: Cheetah - Research, Cheetahs | Date: Apr 24 2009 | By: cheetahconservation

The weekly download has come in, and it makes interesting viewing. It appears that our lady went no further south than we had her last week. Instead she turned around and headed up into the Nubib mountains to the East of NRNR. She is currently on a farm called Nubib, which is home to a guest lodge specialising in low budget accommodation and hiking trails. We believe that they are probably cheetah friendly, or at least not particularly cheetah unfriendly. Rob

No responses yet

Category: Cheetah - Research, Cheetahs | Date: Apr 22 2009 | By: cheetahconservation

Note. The below email has been in my outbox for nearly 24 hrs now - hopefully today the network will be more functional. Most of you are already aware of the situation with the female now anyway, but maybe this map can help visualise it. I have reduced the usual map size and quality to ease the sending.

I’ve just received the data for the past seven days from the collared female, and have to report that she has left the reserve. As you will see from the map she walked south from the Losberg, and the latest position data we have places her 11 km outside the reserve boundary and apparently continuing to move away. James reported a few days ago that he had spotted her cubs operating independently close to the reserve border, but managed to persuade them to move back inwards.

It will be another week before we can retrieve any further satellite data, but I will send that out as soon as I get it. Rob

No responses yet

Category: Cheetah - Research, Cheetahs | Date: Apr 19 2009 | By: cheetahconservation

The boys seem to have completely settled into their new environment now. They are continuing to spend most of their time close to the penned females, but regularly range out to hunt and have made three oryx kills during this time (see map). The last one was a large male some 1.64 metres in length. Ra and Misty are still the most consistent pairing, although all of the boys regularly vie for attention. As yet there has been no significant interactions with the new females; Tisha and Shanti. Rob

No responses yet

Category: Cheetah - Research, Cheetahs | Date: Mar 09 2009 | By: cheetahconservation

No responses yet

Category: Cheetah - Research, Cheetahs | Date: Feb 24 2009 | By: cheetahconservation

The boys spent the night on the pan (and didn’t hunt successfully), before drifting back to the girls pen. Ra vocalises constantly while Misty is close by, but little else happens. After a quiet day, they head back to the pan soon after 5pm. Once there, Kia tried to hunt a group of Hartebeest, but they spotted him and moved off. Shortly thereafter all five cheetahs attempt the same thing with the same group, and unfortunately are equally unsuccessful.

It appears that it is typically Kia who leads the hunting activities, and Cadbury who lags the furthest behind. This is something that we will continue to monitor.

Rob

No responses yet

Category: Cheetah - Research, Cheetahs | Date: Feb 23 2009 | By: cheetahconservation

Day 73 (18th February)

The boys spent a quiet morning with the girls. At various points they marked and/or rubbed the fence. At one point Misty decided to chase Rosy around the pen and this sent all the boys into something of a frenzy of excitement. When the chase begins again, the boys tried to follow but were frustrated by the fence. After a little while, when he girls fail to reappear, all five move off to their favourite play tree on the west side.

Around 15:30 in the afternoon, the boys head out to the pan and their favourite hunting grounds.

While walking in a Southern direction they spotted a group of Oryx. Now, I initially thought they were much too far away and the boys should try and move closer be for attempting a run. This was not the case. They took off together and all of a sudden, in a burst of speed, one of them (no idea who, they were nearly 3000m away!) just easily over took the entire group of Oryx. I have no idea how fast he was going but this is by far the fastest I’ve ever seen any of the boys move (or any other animal for that matter…). He over took the group and turned causing the Oryx to stall, the others then caught up and sort of ‘herded’ the group around in a half-circle. In the melee I couldn’t see the actual take down and it took a few minutes for us to see what was happening amongst it all. Then I saw a couple of the boys chasing the Oryx again! They stopped after a few metres and this is when I was certain they had something and were just keeping the others at bay. We quickly left and travelled around to the Wolwedans road and walked out to the site. We saw a few eager jackals before coming into a position to see them. Sure enough, they were exhausted but happily feasting away. They had already eaten some and moved around a bit so I couldn’t tell who had done the actually killing but at least they’ve fed themselves once again. This is such exciting stuff! We left them shortly afterwards so as not to disturb their dinner.

The kill was another young Oryx, Horns: w 14cm l 47cm Approx. Body length: 1.5m. Judging by the longer, wider pelvis shape I believe this was a female Oryx.

Day 74 (20th February)

After yesterday’s successful hunt, the boys spent the entire day hanging around the girls pen. In the morning, Ra and Misty spent over half an hour pacing the fence-line together, while the other boys rest in the grass nearby. In the afternoon, Ra continue to apparently court Misty, while the other boys stick closer to Rosy. As the girls are fed, Ra and Mushara have a small fight, with Ra, for once, winning. As the girls move deeper into their pen, the boys lie down to rest nearby, with Cadbury and Mushara grooming each-other.

And the Female with Cubs?

The collared female is remaining to the south of the boys and the farmhouse. We have confirmed visually that her cubs are still with her.

No responses yet

Category: Cheetah - Research, Cheetahs | Date: Feb 18 2009 | By: cheetahconservation

The collared female spent some considerable time (over a day) in almost the same location. We asked James to ensure she was still healthy and he found remains of a springbok kill at that location. She had by that time moved on, but had clearly taken her time over the meal.

She killed an adult springbok at -24.96675, 16.06229. It was of decent size, probably a male. Horns: w 15cm l 25cm. Approx. body length: 1.28m

The kill must have been made either early in the morning or evening during or just after the rains. The tracks were fairly fresh and easy to follow. It seems she surprised the springbok in some bushes of what looks like an old river bed. She then ran it down in a NE direction over about 150m. The spot where her tracks begin to run are at -24.968052, 16.062684. The springbok crossed in front of her before breaking into a run. It looks as if it was taken down just as it tried to turn. Most of the carcass had been consumed and there had been no vulture/jackal presence in the area.

She has been moving south for the last three days. See map below.

Rob

No responses yet

Category: Cheetah - Research, Cheetahs | Date: Feb 18 2009 | By: cheetahconservation

The boys have stayed close to the girls’ pen for the most part. However, they did hunt successfully on 10th February (Day 64). After this hunt, our boys did very little on the 11th. They stuck close to the girls pen, with Ra and Misty pacing along their respective sides together and Ra marking the fence during their stroll. In the early evening they moved off to their play tree and both Cadbury and Lindt marked it. The next day they did visit their regular hunting grounds on the pan in the early evening. Once there they first chased a group of zebra and then attempted to bring down an Oryx. Although we were not in a position to witness all of the action, it appears that they were unsuccessful on this occasion.

Day 68 (14th Feb) was spent vying for the attentions of the girls. Rosy seems to be the most attractive of the two, although Mushara was seen to chase Misty for a brief period - she however fled further in to her enclosure, out of sight. In the evening the boys headed out onto the pan once more, presumably to hunt and then returned yet again to the girls. There is no evidence to suggest that they hunted successfully however. The next evening (map below) they moved off into the large pan, where they made a very half-hearted attempt at chasing a group of Oryx. They basically just ran into the middle of them and chased them in a circle before stopping to rest. Next they ran after a group of about 15 Zebra who saw them coming from a distance and easily avoided them.

After five days without eating, they still looked fit and healthy with no signs of slowing down. Finally, on day 70 (16th Feb.), the boys have finally managed to kill another antelope. They must have been feeling pretty hungry since hey moved out into the pan in mid-morning after spending only a very few hours with the girls. In the early evening, Kia made one attempt at hunting a large bull hartebeest. He saw it running from a distance and perfectly ran from the hill he was resting on to intercept it right about where it crossed his path he then ran along side of it for a few metres before taking a great swipe to try and trip it up. It nearly worked but the bull was too big and just managed to keep its footing. Kia gave up after this and returned to where the others had just caught up to him.

Sometime later in the night they got a young Oryx, who was resting with another adult, by a surprise attack. There were no tracks indicating a run-down or much of a struggle apart from the direct kill site. There was no sat. info for them from last night but I managed to follow their tracks around the pan from where we left them to the site. The Oryx must have been surprised during the night and then the adult, probably the mother, was chased off a few metres. Whoever chased her away then returned to the kill. The mother came back a little closer and then hung around circling the area before finally leaving.

It has now been nearly three weeks since we last had to supplement the boys diet.

Rob

No responses yet