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 Conservation
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Cheetah in North Africa |
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 The cheetah of North Africa is one of the rarest and least known of the large mammals of that vast region of Africa. Until recently, this desert cheetah roamed the sparsely vegetated patches of the Sahara desert, preying on what was then an abundance of gazelles and other natural prey species. During the second half of the 20th century, as gazelle population crashed under a massive hunting pressure and a sweeping rate of habitat destruction and as cheetah themselves were being hunted, this once characteristic Saharan predator was gradually reduced to a very small, highly fragmented population that appear to be on the very brink of extinction. The decline of the cheetah, however, was not only limited to its North African population. During last century the cheetah has become extinct in India, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, the Arabian Peninsula and Sinai, and has suffered a great reduction in numbers and geographical range in sub-Saharan Africa. The cheetah was added to the Red List of Threatened Species in 2001.
The process:
The Cheetah Programme was one of the main activities of the North Africa Biodiversity Programme during Phases I and II. It was developed with the general goal of gathering up-to-date information on the status, distribution and ecology of the cheetah in North Africa.
Published and unpublished data was gathered on the cheetah. The review included information on current and past distribution and status of the cheetah, as well as its general ecology and biology. Questionnaires were provided to local residents in areas of cheetah sightings. They aimed to delineate its present distribution in each country. Field expeditions were then conducted to the potential cheetah habitats identified by the bibliographical review and questionnaire feedback. The areas were searched for the presence of cheetahs either on the basis of actual sighting of the animal by the project's field team, or by other individuals (subject to proper confirmation by the study team), and indirect evidence of its presence such as tracks and droppings. Ecological data of the various habitats was collected.
The findings:
In Egypt, it was concluded that the cheetah, which was formerly distributed widely over the northern part of the Egyptian Western Desert, was now restricted to a small part of its former range at the northwestern part of the Qattara Depression. Cheetah sightings by the field team occurred only once when two adults were seen briefly. In addition, cheetah tracks were found at a number of localities at the Qattara Depression. Verbal reports by Bedouins and other people frequenting this area also confirmed the presence of what appeared to be a very small population of cheetah in the area. The few individuals found in the area appeared to roam over a vast area of the desert searching for prey.
As a result of the project, local populations became aware of the government's strong commitment to the protection and conservation of the cheetah and became therefore more reluctant to kill it for the fear of punishment. A network of Bedouin informants was developed to report on cheetah sightings or signs of presence, but also on any illegal hunting activities in the area. Finally, a conservation action plan was prepared calling for the declaration as a cheetah and gazelle sancturary of present cheetah habitats in northwestern Qattara Depression.
In Algeria, the research took place in the Ahaggar and Tassili National Parks. No animal was sighted, but a number of tracks, droppings, skins and scratches on the surrounding vegetation were found, as well as the fur or bones of a couple of dead animals. By these findings, it seems that very few cheetahs were still present in the Ahaggar and Tassili regions and that they were on the verge of extinction. The reasons for the decrease in cheetah populations were due to many factors: two draughts, which diminished the number of gazelles and mouflon, the cheetah's preys; the degradation of the natural environment; but mostly illegal hunting of the species.
In Morocco, although no cheetah was sighted during the field excursions, the presence of the cheetah in the region was confirmed by the nomads, who move in permanence in the Saharan provinces. The region the most favorable for the survival of the cheetah is in the ecosystems that lie between Morocco and Algeria to the East and Mauritania to the South-East.
In Libya, the cheetah disappeared in most of its past range except for few possible remnants that took refuge in rigorous terrain in Akakus in the most southern part of Libya and in the southern escarpment of Jebel Akhdar in the east.
In Tunisia, the research took place in the south with a particular attention to the regions bordering Libya and Algeria, where the cheetah used to be present. However no sign of its presence was noted.
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