Human-wildlife conflicts are common across the globe. In Namibia, cheetahs roam freely on privately owned farmland and occasionally prey on cattle calves. Drawing on GPS data obtained and analyzed in close collaboration with farmers, the CRP unraveled the spatial sytem of cheetah society and identified communication hubs as hotspots of cheetah activity and farmer-cheetah conflict. In a new range-wide study we aim to understand these patterns in a wider context across the range - and potentially upscale a successful conservation solution

Anthrax is an infectious bacterial disease endemic in some parts of Africa. It affects people, livestock as well as wildlife. Using GPS telemetry data, a team of scientists from the Cheetah Research Project of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) reconstructed a special case of anthrax infection in Namibia: Three free-ranging cheetahs in the Namib Desert died within 24 hours after feeding on a mountain zebra that tested positive for the disease. The zebra is the first described case of a wild animal infected with anthrax in this arid region. The case also shows that there might be previously unknown risks to cheetah populations in the desert. It is described in detail in the scientific journal “Frontiers in Veterinary Science”.

Human-wildlife conflicts are complex and require scientific facts as well as trustful collaboration and communication among all the stakeholders involved. At the IZW, the integration of stakeholders into the research process is an important strategy not only to improve the societal relevance of the scientific results, but also to break down barriers between science and society in terms practically applying these newly gained insights. In a new video the CRP and the Leibniz-IZW explain in detail why we think a new quality of our science-to-society interface is necessary and how we use the real-world lab concept in our cheetah research.

Capturing cheetahs with cage traps is one of the spines of the Cheetah Research Project. For several research questions addressed in the CRP, long-term data and information obtained from free-ranging cheetahs in the core study area are essential. Theoretically, this is a task that can be carried out at any time of the year - still, there are high-times of trappings and quieter times. Are there “trapping seasons” and if so, for what reasons? Here we explore the rationale behind the first concentrated trapping campaign of the year 2021.

In early 2021 our team joined forces with data visualization expert Cédric Scherer vom the Leibniz-IZW to create a map from our recent PNAS study. The intent was to illustrate the key findings of the paper and to submit the map to the MoveMapCompetition from the Special Interest Group “Movement Ecology” of the British Ecological Society. We are very happy for the support of all the voters who made us win the ‘pretty map’ category and runner-up for the RMaps category. In a blog post for the BES’ Journal of Animal Ecology website we wrote about the creation of the map and the research behind it!

In 2016, the CRP hosted fellow scientists from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) for the investigation of immune marker variance in a native population of Egyptian geese in Namibia. The birds were successfully live trapped using the CRP’s cheetah traps and expertise. Blood samples for immunological assays and serology were taken, centrifuged and transferred with an uninterrupted cooling chain to the Leibniz-IZW where they were analysed and compared to similar samples from the invasive population in Germany. We are proud that the CRP regularly facilitates research of fellow colleagues of the lively and inspiring research cosmos that is the Leibniz-IZW and that we collaborated with the Namibia Bird Club for this study.

Rural central Namibia is one of the most important strongholds of the declining global cheetah population. Here, the rarest large African cat lives on privately owned farmland. A traditional conflict poses a threat to them, as they occasionally prey on cattle calves and are therefore rarely welcomed on the farms. New insights into the cheetah’s spatial behaviour provide a viable solution to this human-wildlife conflict: In the core areas of male cheetah territories all local males and females frequently meet to exchange information. This results in hotspots of cheetah activity in these “communication hubs” and in substantially less activity in the vast areas between the core areas of the territories. Implementing this knowledge and moving their breeding herds with young calves out of these hotspots, farmers were able to reduce livestock losses by more than 80 percent. These insights are the result of a close and trusting cooperation between scientists from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) and farmers in central Namibia. They are published in the scientific journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America”.

The central study area of the IZW Cheetah Research Project is situated east and northeast of Namibia’s capital Windhoek and covers an area of approximately 40.000 km². Nearly every square meter is utilized by commercial farmers, who mainly conduct cattle breeding. In 2020, the CRP is again running a comprehensive camera trap survey in this area employing camera traps to gain insights into the behaviour of the cheetahs and to estimate their density.

Our long-term Cheetah Research Project is located in the savannahs of Central Namibia, investigating the health status, immunology, reproduction and spatial ecology of the elusive and threatened cat. Additionally, the research team is carrying out a cheetah survey across Namibia since 2015 to estimate the density of cheetah in different habitats throughout the country. The final aim is to estimate the total population size using empirical data collected at field following a scientific procedure.

We are glad to communicate that our seroprevalence paper on apicomplexan parasites was published yesterday. In this work, we tested more than 500 individuals of 12 wildlife species sampled on Namibian farmland and National Parks. The main results are that seroprevalence of apicomplexan parasites in carnivores ranged between 52% in cheetahs and 93% in lions (and 92% in brown hyenas). We also show that older individuals have higher Toxoplasma infections than younger ones.