NamibRand Boys - Days 111-116 (29/3 - 3/4)
Category: Cheetah - General, Cheetah - Research | Date: Apr 04 2009 | By: cheetahconservation
On March 30th we believe that the boys made a small kill, possibly a springbuck but have been unable to directly confirm this. Their behaviour suggests however that they are not presently hungry despite our not having witnessed a kill since the two Hartebeest back on March 24th.
On the 31st they headed out onto the pan, but did very little aside from sleeping out there before returning to the girls pen the following night. As April begins, they spent their morning courting the girls, although our latest additions (Shanti and Tisha) show no interest in coming down to the fence to greet them. That evening Mushara spots a group of zebra and starts stalking them, the others soon follow with Kia taking over leadership for the hunt. The zebra see them but don’t appear concerned, continuing to stroll towards a nearby waterhole. Close to the tail end of the herd, Kia and Ra go to ground, apparently waiting for the zebra to turn around and return to the pan, but Lindt loses patience and attempts to run one down with Cadbury and Mushara by his side. The zebra scattered and the three boys quickly gave up the attempt. Shortly thereafter all five boys returned to the girls pen.
Two days later they succeed with another kill, but as yet James has been unable to get close enough to identify it.
As regards the map, you may notice the purple line on the right of the picture. This is the reserve boundary, and will appear on all maps from now onwards.
Rob
NamibRand female - 11-25th March
Category: Cheetah - General, Cheetah - Research | Date: Apr 01 2009 | By: cheetahconservation
As you can see from the attached map, the collared female is ranging very far to the West of the boys at the moment, almost out into the dunes of the Namib-Nauklaft desert. Interestingly, we received a report of a Springbok kill site in the vicinity of the rocks you can see under her latest data point. The site was seen from the air during a scenic flight, so no close examination was possible, but the assumption was made that it was a leopard kill as one is known to be in the area. Given her proximity to the site however, it seems more likely that she brought it down.
Rob
NamibRand Boys - Days 103-111
Category: Cheetah - General, Cheetah - Research | Date: Apr 01 2009 | By: cheetahconservation
We have all our technical problems resolved now, although we are still trying to fill in a few holes in the data from mid-March. I’ve attached the current map, which takes us up to March 29th.
On March 28th, we added a new temptation for the boys, in the form of two new, younger, females; Tisha and Shanti. They are currently in the 2 ha pen, but will be moved in with Misty and rosy in the 50 ha pen in a couple of weeks time. Tisha has been fitted with a satellite collar, and Shanti with a simple radio collar. It is hoped that these two girls, currently about 2.5 yrs old, will be able to be released into NamibRand after approximately 2 months in the pens here. Currently they are very shy of people, and have also apparently not spent any time courting the boys, although they did watch them covertly this morning (April 1st) from the far corner of their enclosure.
Our boys are still spending most of their time either with Misty and Rosy, or lurking close to the fence and trying to attract them over. They have also started ranging Eastwards more often, although when we drove over there, they spotted us watching them (from about 1 km away) and strolled over for a look. On March 24th however, James made a very exciting discovery when he found the boys feeding from a pair of Hartebeest (a mother and calf). This means that for the first time, a second member of the group has made a kill! Up to now, all kills have been made by Kia. There is no way to know which of them brought down the second Hartebeest, but hopefully we’ll be able to witness them in action again in the future and see who else is getting involved.
Either way, this was a substantial feast, and should keep them fed for many days.
Rob
A word of Thanks!
Category: Cheetah - General, Cheetah - Research | Date: Mar 31 2009 | By: cheetahconservation
We want to thank everyone who has made donations to the Cheetah Conservation Fund through wildlifedirect.org. Every amount counts because we depend on your support to continue doing our job. We even have one donor who just reached a full year of monthly donations. Thank you so much, Haishin O! We hope you feel good knowing that your donations are helping cheetah conservation very significantly.
A quick word on the NamibRand cheetahs. I heard from Rob today. He is at NamibRand. Two other females have just been released there. He has promised to send more information as soon as he returns to CCF. The boys are doing great and apparently have been hunting successfully.
I also just posted a story about Finn, a scat-sniffing dog that will be helping us test cheetah census techniques in Namibia. Don’t miss it!
All the best,
Patricia Tricorache
Dogs finding Cheetahs
Category: Cheetah - General, Cheetah - Research | Date: Mar 31 2009 | By: cheetahconservation
We are very excited to announce that Finn, a dog specially trained to sniff cheetah scat, has been with us for almost a month and is doing extremely well.
Finn is a border collie raised and trained by Chris Bartos of the Philadelphia Zoo, who stayed with us for three weeks. She was sad to leave Finn behind, but she knows he will working hard as he joins our cheetah census team (photo, L-R, with John Hunter, Isha, Chris Bartos, Finn and Anne Schmidt-Küntzel). He was rescued from Mid-Atlantic Border Collie by Chris, and has been trained to sniff out cheetah scat (poop) in Namibia so that cheetah movements can be tracked. Both Chris and Finn learned the tracking ropes at a detection-dog training program in Seattle. The location of the scat is recorded with a GPS device and is then collected. Geneticists analyze the samples to determine what the cheetahs have eaten and can extract DNA to identify individual cats, helping determine each cheetah’s range.
Given the secretive nature of cheetahs, indirect census techniques are likely to be the only viable method of collecting useful population information. Indirect censusing relies upon the detection of signs such as hair, spoor or scat (faeces) of the target species, and has been used effectively to gain population data for a wide range of species (Kohn et al., 1999; Smith et al., 2001; Warrick and Harris, 2001). The efficacy of these census techniques is, however, potentially limited by the ability of human searchers to find signs (a particular problem in Namibia’s thick thornbush habitat) and incorrect species identification after signs are located (Gese, 2001).
Search dogs have proved to be a highly effective tool in the development of such wildlife studies: They were reported as being four times as effective at finding fox scats as human searchers, and demonstrated a 100% correct species identification record (Smith et al., 2001; Shivik, 2002). The use of these dogs in field studies could be of immense benefit to cheetah researchers, but it is critical to first quantify and calibrate their efficacy through methodical trials so that this technique can be utilized to maximum effect in the field.
Finn will help us test the efficiency of search dogs in detecting cheetah scat, with the ultimate goal of using the abundance and occurrence of cheetah scat in the wild as an index of population density and distribution. Significant recent developments in the field of DNA analysis mean that scat samples can be effectively utilized to extract DNA and provide some estimate of population size in an area (Kohn et al., 1999; Taberlet et al., 2001). These data will prove invaluable in developing the most appropriate conservation strategies and management policies for cheetahs on Namibian farmlands.
This program is important because it will help us work to implement suitable conservation strategies which hinge upon developing reliable estimates of population status and trends. While we are trying to obtain grants from various foundations, we need to raise funds to achieve our goal of US$100,000. This total includes all aspects of this research, from staffing to equipment and supplies. Please consider making a donation to help Finn make this project a success.
Chris was recently interviewed by Public Radio International. Click here to listen.
Thanks!
Patricia Tricorache
Namibrand Boys - days 84-89 (Mar. 2 - Mar. 7)
Category: Cheetah - Research, Cheetahs | Date: Mar 09 2009 | By: cheetahconservation
It’s been a bit of a tense week for those of us monitoring the boys, but it has now had a happy ending. With the coming of the rainy season, the herbivores have scattered all over the place making it far harder for the boys to hunt. As of March 2nd, they hadn’t successfully hunted for nearly a week, although they were spotted following groups of Oryx and Hartebeest towards the mountains. On the 3rd, they (especially Mushara) approached so closely to the farmhouse that James had to chase them off, and still didn’t successfully hunt anything. On the 4th they became increasingly aggressive when James fed the girls, with Mushara again at the fore, but didn’t bother trying to hunt for themselves.
Reluctant as we were to start feeding them again, it was obvious that they needed a boost and on March 5th, James located a recent leopard kill (a young Oryx) and placed it in the boys path. The leopard had only eaten a little before leaving so there was plenty left. James moved it far enough away so that the leopard couldn’t find it again. The boys tucked in and ate their fill.
The following day the boys spent a relaxing day, with Mushara spending time with Rosy and Ra with Misty. They didn’t leave the vicinity of the pens all day.
On March 7th, the boys again headed out onto the pan after spending only a brief period looking for the girls at the pen. At some time around 6pm they successfully hunted a Springbok! The last data point for this day is the kill site.
The satellite collars on both Mushara and the female have now switched over to their second (and final) duty cycle. This means that instead of them recording GPS data every 2 hrs, and transmitting it back to us each day, they now record GPS data only every 12 hrs and transmit to us one a week. This was a pre-programmed changeover that is set in the collars’ memories just before fitting on the cats. The reduced activity will extend the battery life considerably.
Rob
NamibRand Boys - Days 81-83 (Feb. 27 - Mar. 01)
Category: Cheetah - General, Cheetah - Research | Date: Mar 04 2009 | By: cheetahconservation
Sorry for the delay in getting the latest maps out. Our Internet has been particularly slow these last few days. Partly for that reason, and partly because we are beginning to scale back our monitoring of the boys, we plan to start sending maps out only twice a week from this point onwards, and weekly for the female.
These were interesting days, with the dynamics of the group starting to change. On the 27th, the boys all went for a long trek to the south following a herd of Oryx. They didn’t make any attempts to hunt them, but showed signs of particularly enjoying a cool breeze that had sprung up, often turning their faces into it. A little after 6pm, they encountered the female and her cubs, but she wasn’t interested in them and departed the scene. The boys chased her briefly, but soon slowed back to a stroll.
In the morning of the 28th, the boys split up with Ra staying put, while the others paced around the girls pen. The girls stayed close to Ra, despite Mushara calling constantly for them. In the afternoon, Kia had joined Ra, but as the girls were fed, all five joined back up. They made no attempt to go and hunt despite not having eaten for a couple of days.
On the 1st, we discovered that Lindt was missing. A search in the morning turned up nothing. In the late afternoon, the four remaining boys abruptly headed northwest towards the farmhouse, when they returned to the pens afterwards, Lindt was back with them. Since Lindt doesn’t have a radio collar, there is no way to know whether he spent the time with the wild female, or doing something else. After his reappearance Cadbury seemed especially pleased to see him again, but none of the boys moved much again that day.
Rob
Namib Rand Boys - day 77 (Feb. 23)
Category: Cheetah - General, Cheetah - Research | Date: Feb 28 2009 | By: cheetahconservation
The boys are still out in the pan after their unsuccessful hunting of Hartebeest the night before. Judging by their position, they may have continued to follow the herd for some time. During the course of the morning they move slowly back towards the pen. During a short rest they completely ignore a group of springbok walking past.
When we rejoin them in the early afternoon however, it appears that they have successfully hunted a young oryx ( Horns: w 11.5cm l 31cm Approx. Body length: .95m). Very little is left, and by this point the boys are grooming each-other with Mushara cleaning Kia, Cadbury and Lindt cleaning each-other and Ra still feeding. They eventually move off in early evening and return to the girls’ side at around 9pm.
James also reports that he is now encountering a number of tourists who have seen the “Cheetah Man” documentary aired on British TV a couple of weeks ago that dealt with the release of these five cheetahs.
Rob
Namibrand Mother - Feb. 23-27th
Category: Cheetah - General, Cheetah - Research | Date: Feb 28 2009 | By: cheetahconservation
Namibrand Mother - Feb. 23-27th
Our lady has been staying in a relatively small area the last few days. Yesterday morning however, she ventured north, directly towards the holding pen for Misty and Rosy. When she got to within 1.5 km she reversed course and returned south. Unfortunately I don’t have any satellite data for the boys at the same time, but have included the two closest data points that I do have. As you can see, they were in the area, but I can’t tell if there was any form of direct encounter. If I get any additional data from this time frame I will pass it along.
Rob
Namibrand Boys - Day 76 (Feb. 22nd)
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
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Donations Received
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