Cheetahs Almost Extinct Again

“Cheetahs don’t only face problems caused by humans but caused by their own DNA. Cheetahs have a low reproductive success rate which means they are not always able to create cubs.”

— Astrid

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Cheetahs Almost Extinct Again

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https://flic.kr/p/bNXprR

“Cheetahs are large cats with a small head, long legs, and a thin body. Cheetahs are the fastest land animals on the planet ​ They can run at speeds of about 75 miles an hour! Cheetahs can also increase their speed from zero to 60 miles an hour in three seconds” (Bradford).

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Figure 1. Partners, Safari. “Cheetah.” Flickr, 22 Apr. 2010, www.flickr.com/photos/safaripartners/4839003718/. Accessed 28 May 2020.

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Cheetah’s started facing extinction a long time ago but in 2016 papers clarified that “the cheetah’s status is going to be changed from “vulnerable’’ to “endangered” cheetahs counted 1500 In southern Africa in 1975.” This number has been going down over the last few years due to human activities. “there are an estimated 7,100 cheetahs left in the wild.” (​wildlifeday.org​)

Cheetahs don't only face problems caused by humans but also problems caused by their own DNA Cheetahs have a low rate of reproductive success which means that they are not always able to create cubs. Because they can't always reproduce cheetahs are not able to grow nor adapt to the environment.

figure 2 ​liegeois, emmanuel. “Cheetah.” ​Flickr​, 7 Mar. 2015, flic.kr/p/rysKcf. Accessed 28 May 2020.

Have cheetahs faced extinction before? (body)

Cheetahs genes show that cheetahs have faced extinction before “​About 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, an extinction event took place. Only the African and Asian cheetah species survived this event. Cheetahs have survived at least two bottleneck events, a bottleneck event is when a number of something dramatically decreases” which in this case is the cheetahs. “ The first bottleneck event took place “ about 100,000 years ago.” It happened after cheetahs spread out across the continents. Many Coalitions of cheetahs ended up in different places far away from each other because they were all separated they were unable to exchange genes and produce cubs. Nonetheless, the cheetahs found a way to grow their population again.

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“The second bottleneck event was about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age.” “During this second bottleneck event, a large number of mammals died all over the world.’’ “only African and the Asian cheetahs survived this second bottleneck event but their numbers decreased by a lot. Scientists estimate only about 7 African cheetahs survived during this second bottleneck event.” (​Newsela​ )

Reasons cheetahs face extinction today. (body)

African wild life.org​ states that ​As human populations grow and expand, agriculture, roads, and settlements destroy the open grasslands that this big cat calls home this affects ​them because if they don’t have their habitat it will be harder for them to hunt, which in turn means that they cannot get the nutrients that they require to grow and remain healthy. ​National Geographic​ states that “Another reason the cheetahs are facing extinction is that their genes do not always allow them to reproduce” which means that they are not capable of guaranteeing a future generation. In addition to what I mentioned before these big cats are also confronted with climate change is influencing the environment they are used to and sometimes their pray is also affected by climate change which causes cheetah to not be able to feed themselves or their cubs. As a result of poaching, cheetahs have also been confronted with extinctions because humans have been using cheetah skin(Fur coats), meat.

What would happen if cheetahs become extinct? (body)

Cheetahs have survived two bottleneck events in the past, however, the environment is changing so rapidly lately that it is very hard for them to adapt to their changing environment. ​Normally with the slow change, animal populations not individuals slowly adapt by the individuals who are best suited to being more successful and breeding more- when the changes are really rapid, there is no time for the population to adapt and they may all be eliminated and become extinct.

Cheetahs are classified as carnivores “meat-eaters” which means that they feed on other animals to get their required nutrients. However, cheetah mainly eats gazelles, wildebeest calves, impalas, and smaller animals such as warthogs, birds, hares, and many more. These grasseaters eat grass as their name implies however if the cheetah population decreases the herbivore population will increase and grasslands will decrease because the herbivores will be eating too much grass ​Bigcatswild.com​ ​states that changes in one cause changes in all, there is always a chain reaction in a food pyramid.

What is going to happen to the cheetah population now?

Cheetahs have been facing extinction for a couple of years now due to human activities however cheetahs have survived 2 bottleneck events

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but because they have problems in their genes with reproducing they were unable to create a future generation during those times however they did manage to grow their population. As a result of climate change, it is hard for these big cats to adapt to their new environment because they might not be “fit” enough to adapt. Because the cheetah population is decreasing and the herbivore population is increasing grass and plants eaten by herbivores also decrease.

Works Cited

Astrid van Hoorn

Bradford, Alina. “Cheetahs: The Fastest Land Animals.” ​Live Science​, Live Science, 23 Oct. 2018, www.livescience.com/27319-cheetahs.html​.

liegeois, emmanuel. “Cheetah.” ​Flickr​, 7 Mar. 2015, flic.kr/p/rysKcf. Accessed 28 May 2020.

“Cheetah | Official Website of UN World Wildlife Day.” ​Www.Wildlifeday.Org​, www.wildlifeday.org/content/factsheets/cheetah​.

“Newsela | Cheetahs: On the Brink of Extinction, Again.” ​Newsela.Com​, newsela.com/read/natgeo-cheetahs-extinction/id/50558?collection_id=339&search_id=75f70f0f-45f b-46fc-aee7-e9cb678c2642. Accessed 28 May 2020.

National Geographic Society. “National Geographic Education.” ​Nationalgeographic.Org​, 2019, www.nationalgeographic.org/education/​.

“The Fastest Land Mammal Can’t Outrun Extinction on Its Own.” ​African Wildlife Foundation​, 13 Dec. 2018, ​www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/cheetah​.

O'connell, Daniel, et al. ​Cheetah Extinction-Unable to Recover? And the Effects on Its Food Pyramid​.

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