Sunday, December 7, 2008

Cheetahs officially endangered

Cheetahs, the world fastest land animals have been added to UN's endangered species list. This was really logical consequence resulting from variety of different problems, most notably habitat loss, but also because of often conflict with humans, high mortality rate of cheetah cubs, and different genetic variations. There were several attempts of captive breeding but none of them ended with success.

Habitat loss is the main problem why cheetahs are on UN's endangered species list. Cheetahs need large territories for their habitats but with recent population increase more and more land is used for agriculture meaning less space for cheetahs. Recent estimates say that there are about 12000 cheetahs in the wild, most of which live in Namibia (close to 2500).


Cheetahs - Officially endangered

Current efforts have proven to be not enough to prevent decline in cheetahs population though it has to be said that some organizations (most notably Cheetah Conservation Fund) are really working hard to help cheetah's survival. The most difficult problem that needs to be solved is how to find the balance between farmers and cheetahs. Habitat loss has forced cheetahs to attack livestock resulting in frequent conflicts with farmers in which many cheetahs have been killed.

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