Image copyright ZSL Image caption Protected parks and reserves for cheetahs are not sufficient as the animal ranges far beyond these areas

The sleek, speedy cheetah is rapidly heading towards extinction according to a new study into declining numbers.

The report estimates that there are just 7,100 of the world's fastest mammals now left in the wild.

Cheetahs are in trouble because they range far beyond protected areas and are coming increasingly into conflict with humans.

The authors are calling for an urgent re-categorisation of the species from vulnerable to endangered.

Wiped out

According to the study, more than half the world's surviving cheetahs live in one population that ranges across six countries in southern Africa.

Cheetahs in Asia have been essentially wiped out. A group estimated to number fewer than 50 individuals clings on in Iran.

Because the cheetah is one of the widest-ranging carnivores, it roams across lands far outside protected areas. Some 77% of their habitat falls outside these parks and reserves.

As a result, the animal struggles because these lands are increasingly being developed by farmers and the cheetah's prey is declining because of bushmeat hunting.

In Zimbabwe, the cheetah population has fallen from around 1,200 to just 170 animals in 16 years, with the main cause being major changes in land tenure.

Image copyright ZSL Image caption The illegal trade in cheetah cubs has been driven by their status as a fashion icon in the Gulf states

Researchers involved with the study say that the threats facing the fabled predator have gone unnoticed for far too long.

"Given the secretive nature of this elusive cat, it has been difficult to gather hard information on the species, leading to its plight being overlooked," said Dr Sarah Durant, from the Zoological Society of London, UK, and the report's lead author.

"Our findings show that the large space requirements for the cheetah, coupled with the complex range of threats faced by the species in the wild, mean that it is likely to be much more vulnerable to extinction than was previously thought."

Another of the big concerns about cheetahs has been the illegal trafficking of cubs, fuelled by demand from the Gulf states, as reported by the BBC earlier this year.

The young cats can fetch up to $10,000 on the black market. According to the Cheetah Conservation Fund, some 1,200 cheetah cubs are known to have been trafficked out of Africa over the past 10 years but around 85% of them died during the journey.

At the recent CITES conference in South Africa, governments agreed to put new measures in place to tackle this issue, clamping down on the use of social media to advertise cheetahs for sale.

Image copyright ZSL Image caption The cheetah has lost 91% of its traditional ranges as it comes increasingly into conflict with humans

However if the species is to survive long term then urgent efforts must be made to tackle the wider question of protected areas and ranges.

The new study argues for a "paradigm shift in conservation", moving away from the idea of just declaring an area to be protected and towards incorporating "incentive-based approaches". This, in essence, means paying local communities to protect a species that many see as a dangerous predator.

"The take-away from this pinnacle study is that securing protected areas alone is not enough," said Dr Kim Young-Overton from Panthera, another author on the report.

"We must think bigger, conserving across the mosaic of protected and unprotected landscapes that these far-reaching cats inhabit, if we are to avert the otherwise certain loss of the cheetah forever."

To fully recognise the scale of the threat that the cheetah now faces, the report is calling on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to change the categorisation of the fastest animal on its Red List from vulnerable to endangered.

This would help focus international conservation support on a species that the authors fear is heading for extinction at an increasing pace.

The report has been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Follow Matt on Twitter and on Facebook</s>Here, we compile and present the most comprehensive data available on cheetah distribution and status. Our analysis shows dramatic declines of cheetah across its distributional range. Most cheetah occur outside protected areas, where they are exposed to multiple threats, but there is little information on population status. Simulation modeling shows that, where cheetah population growth rates are suppressed outside protected areas, extinction risk increases markedly. This result can be generalized to other “protection-reliant” species, and a decision tree is provided to improve their extinction risk estimation. Ultimately, the persistence of protection-reliant species depends on their survival outside and inside protected areas and requires a holistic approach to conservation that engages rather than alienates local communities.

Abstract

Establishing and maintaining protected areas (PAs) are key tools for biodiversity conservation. However, this approach is insufficient for many species, particularly those that are wide-ranging and sparse. The cheetah Acinonyx jubatus exemplifies such a species and faces extreme challenges to its survival. Here, we show that the global population is estimated at ∼7,100 individuals and confined to 9% of its historical distributional range. However, the majority of current range (77%) occurs outside of PAs, where the species faces multiple threats. Scenario modeling shows that, where growth rates are suppressed outside PAs, extinction rates increase rapidly as the proportion of population protected declines. Sensitivity analysis shows that growth rates within PAs have to be high if they are to compensate for declines outside. Susceptibility of cheetah to rapid decline is evidenced by recent rapid contraction in range, supporting an uplisting of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List threat assessment to endangered. Our results are applicable to other protection-reliant species, which may be subject to systematic underestimation of threat when there is insufficient information outside PAs. Ultimately, conserving many of these species necessitates a paradigm shift in conservation toward a holistic approach that incentivizes protection and promotes sustainable human–wildlife coexistence across large multiple-use landscapes.</s>The cheetah is rapidly heading towards extinction, with only 7,100 of the world’s fastest mammal now left in the wild, a study published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has found. The population of the wild cat has seen an alarming drop since the late 1990s. For instance, there were 1,200 cheetahs in Zimbabwe in 1999, which has plunged to 170 at present, the report said, according to BBC.

One of the factors attributed to this population crash is that cheetahs often roam in lands that stretch beyond the limits of protected reserves and national parks. Some 77% of their habitat falls outside these areas, the report said. Expansion of farmland has also eaten into their habitat, leading to their drop in numbers.

“Our findings show that the large space requirements for the cheetah, coupled with the complex range of threats faced by the species in the wild, mean that it is likely to be much more vulnerable to extinction than was previously thought,” said the report’s lead author, Dr Sarah Durant from the Zoological Society of London, United Kingdom.

The illegal trafficking of cubs, pushed by demand from countries in the Gulf, is another contributing factor. The Cheetah Conservation Fund has estimated that some 1,200 cubs were trafficked out of Africa over the past decade, but at least 85% of them died en route.

Researchers have called for a “paradigm shift in conservation”, saying “securing protected areas alone is not enough” to protect these animals. “We must think bigger, conserving across the mosaic of protected and unprotected landscapes that these far-reaching cats inhabit, if we are to avert the otherwise certain loss of the cheetah forever,” said Dr Kim Young-Overton from Panthera, another author of the study.

The report has also urged the International Union for the Conservation of Nature to categorise the mammal as “endangered” on its Red List – it currently falls in the “vulnerable” group – to bring its looming extinction into focus globally.</s>The cheetah - the world's fastest land animal - is sprinting to extinction, experts have warned.

Urgent action is needed to stop the big cat dying out, with scientists estimating that just 7,100 remain in the wild.

They occupy just 9% of the territory they once lived in.

Asiatic populations have been hit the hardest with fewer than 50 individuals surviving in Iran, according to a new investigation led by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

In Zimbabwe, cheetah numbers have plummeted by 85% in little more than a decade.

The cheetah's dramatic decline has now prompted calls for the animal's status to be upgraded from "vulnerable" to "endangered" on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of threatened species.

Dr Sarah Durant, from ZSL and WCS, project leader for the Rangewide Conservation Programme for Cheetah and African Wild Dog, said: "This study represents the most comprehensive analysis of cheetah status to date.

"Given the secretive nature of this elusive cat, it has been difficult to gather hard information on the species, leading to its plight being overlooked. Our findings show that the large space requirements for cheetah, coupled with the complex range of threats faced by the species in the wild, mean that it is likely to be much more vulnerable to extinction than was previously thought."

The cheetah is one of the world's most wide-ranging carnivores and needs a lot of space. Partly because of this, 77% of its remaining habitat falls outside protected areas, leaving the animal especially vulnerable to human impacts.

Even within well-managed parks and reserves the cats have suffered as a result of humans hunting their prey, habitat loss, illegal trafficking of cheetah parts, and the exotic pet trade, say the researchers writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In Zimbabwe these pressures have seen the cheetah population plunge from 1,200 to a maximum of only 170 animals in 16 years, a decline of 85%.

The experts want to see a completely new approach to cheetah conservation focusing on the landscape that transcends national borders and incorporates co-ordinated regional strategies.

It would involve motivating both governments and local communities to protect the cheetah and promoting the sustainable co-existence of humans and wildlife.

Dr Kim Young-Overton, from the wild cat conservation organisation Panthera, said: "We've just hit the reset button in our understanding of how close cheetahs are to extinction.

"The take-away from this pinnacle study is that securing protected areas alone is not enough. We must think bigger, conserving across the mosaic of protected and unprotected landscapes that these far-reaching cats inhabit, If we are to avert the otherwise certain loss of the cheetah forever."

RELATED VIDEO: First cheetah cubs born at Port Lympne Wild Animal park in Kent in almost 30 years</s>Washington: With the cheetah being driven out of 91 per cent of its historic range in Asia and Africa, the world's fastest land animal could soon be lost forever unless urgent, landscape-wide conservation action is taken, warns a study.

While renowned for its speed and spots, the degree of persecution cheetahs face both inside and outside of protected areas is largely unrecognised, said the study that estimated the number of cheetahs left in the wild today to be just 7,100.

Asiatic cheetah populations have been hit hardest, with fewer than 50 individuals remaining in one isolated pocket of Iran, it added.

"The take-away from this pinnacle study is that securing protected areas alone is not enough," said Kim Young-Overton, Cheetah Programme Director of Panthera, a non-profit organisation devoted exclusively to the conservation of the world's wild cats.

"We must think bigger, conserving across the mosaic of protected and unprotected landscapes that these far-ranging cats inhabit, if we are to avert the otherwise certain loss of the cheetah forever," she added.

Due to the species' dramatic decline, the cheetah should be up-listed from 'vulnerable' to 'endangered' on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said.

Typically, greater international conservation support, prioritisation and attention are given to wildlife classified as 'endangered', in efforts to stave off impending extinction.

The researchers pointed out that even within guarded parks and reserves, cheetahs rarely escape the pervasive threats of human-wildlife conflict, prey loss due to overhunting by people, habitat loss and the illegal trafficking of cheetah parts and trade as exotic pets.

To make matters worse, as one of the world's most wide-ranging carnivores, 77 per cent of the cheetah's habitat falls outside of protected areas.

Unrestricted by boundaries, the species' wide-ranging movements weaken law enforcement protection and greatly amplify its vulnerability to human pressures.

Indeed, largely due to pressures on wildlife and their habitat outside of protected areas, Zimbabwe's cheetah population has plummeted from 1,200 to a maximum of 170 animals in just 16 years -- representing an astonishing loss of 85 per cent of the country's cheetahs, said the study.

"This study represents the most comprehensive analysis of cheetah status to date. Given the secretive nature of this elusive cat, it has been difficult to gather hard information on the species, leading to its plight being overlooked," lead author Sarah Durant from the Zoological Society of London pointed out.

"Our findings show that the large space requirements for cheetah, coupled with the complex range of threats faced by the species in the wild, mean that it is likely to be much more vulnerable to extinction than was previously thought," Durant noted.

7,100

Estimated no. of cheetahs now left in the wild</s>Washington, Dec 27 The world's fastest land animal, the cheetah, is sprinting towards the edge of extinction, a new study warned, calling for urgent conservation actions to save these big cats.

A Cheetah mother and three of her six cubs rest as they venture outside for the first time after their birth at Burgers' Zoo in Arnhem, eastern Netherlands.

The study published in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday, estimated that the cheetah's population has declined to just 7,100 globally, Xinhua news agency reports.

As a result, the researchers urged that the cheetah should be up-listed from "Vulnerable" to "Endangered" on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species. Sarah Durant of the Zoological Society of London and lead author of the study said this study represents the most comprehensive analysis of cheetah status to date.

"Given the secretive nature of this elusive cat, it has been difficult to gather hard information on the species, leading to its plight being overlooked," Durant said in a statement. According to the researchers, even within guarded parks and reserves, cheetahs still face threats of human-wildlife conflict, prey loss due to excessive hunting by people, habitat loss and the illegal trafficking of cheetah parts and trade as exotic pets.

To make matters worse, as one of the world's most wide-ranging carnivores, 77 per cent of the cheetah's habitat falls outside of protected areas, which makes the animal especially vulnerable to human pressures. "The take-away from this pinnacle study is that securing protected areas alone is not enough," said Kim Young-Overton, cheetah program director of the wild cat conservation group Panthera.</s>The cheetah may may be able to sprint at speeds of 70mph, but not everything can be outrun.

With the threats posed by humans, whether it's competition for land, hunting or the trade in exotic pets, these majestic animals are falling behind in the struggle to stay alive.

​A wide-ranging new report, led by the Zoological Society of London, has found that the damage done is worse than many feared.

Having being driven out of 91% of their former habitat, there are now just 7,100 cheetahs left. In some parts of the world, the threat of extinction is particularly dire: in Asia there are only 50 individuals left.

​Wildlife biologist and Zoological Society of London lead author, Dr. Sarah Durant, told Sputnik that due to their dramatic decline, the cheetah's official status should be changed.

​The researchers are calling for the cheetah to be up-listed from 'Vulnerable' to 'Endangered' on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) List of Threatened Species.

"Because most cheetah (67%) and most cheetah habitat (77%) is outside protected areas, our key recommendation focuses on the need for a paradigm shift in conservation." Dr. Durant said.

"We argue that we need a landscape approach to conservation if we are to secure the survival of cheetah in the long term, that incentivises local communities to protect wildlife and promotes sustainable human-wildlife coexistence outside protected areas."

The study explains that cheetahs are currently dangerously vulnerable to trophy hunters and illegal trafficking for exotic pets, mainly driven by demand from Gulf states, where they are seen as a sign of wealth and prestige.

​​Live cheetah cubs can fetch up to $10,000. However, according to the Cheetah Conservation Fund, most die during the journey out of Africa.

One example of where cheetahs have been particularly at risk from humans is Zimbabwe. The population has plummeted from 1,200 to a maximum of 170 animals in just 16 years — an incredible loss of 85 % of the country's cheetahs.

In October 2016, at at CITES conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, African and Arab countries agreed to suppress the advertisement and flaunting of cheetah trafficking on social media. CITES regulates international trade in endangered plants and animals.

Dr. Durant told Sputnik that her team has been monitoring the decline of cheetahs since 2007. In another ten years, it's not yet clear how many of the species will be left to document.</s>Cheetahs are “sprinting” to extinction due to habitat loss and other forms of human impact, according to a new study out this week that called for urgent action to save the world’s fastest land animals.

Cheetah numbers in Zimbabwe have plunged by more than 85% in 16 years and fewer than 50 individuals survive in Iran, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) warned.

The report’s authors said cheetahs should be listed as “Endangered” instead of “Vulnerable” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

The study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, estimated that just 7,100 cheetahs remain in the wild, occupying just nine percent of the territory they once lived in.

“The cheetah is sprinting towards the edge of extinction and could soon be lost forever unless urgent, landscape-wide conservation action is taken,” ZSL said in a statement.

There were an estimated 100,000 cheetahs at the beginning of the 20th century, according to previous estimates.

“Given the secretive nature of this elusive cat, it has been difficult to gather hard information on the species, leading to its plight being overlooked,” said Sarah Durant, the report’s lead author and project leader for the Rangewide Conservation Programme for Cheetah and African Wild Dog.

“Our findings show that the large space requirements for cheetah, coupled with the complex range of threats faced by the species in the wild, meant that it is likely to be much more vulnerable to extinction than was previously thought,” she said.

Cheetahs travel widely in search of prey with some home ranges estimated at up to 3,000 square kilometres (1,158 square miles).

The study found that 77% of the animal’s remaining habitat falls outside protected areas, leaving it especially vulnerable to human interference.

The main risks are humans hunting their prey, habitat loss, illegal trafficking of cheetah parts and the exotic pet trade, according to the study.

Durant hailed recent commitments taken by the international community, including on stemming the flow of live cats from the Horn of Africa region.

“We’ve just hit the reset button in our understanding of how close cheetahs are to extinction,” said Kim Young-Overton, from the wild cat conservation organisation Panthera.

“Securing protected areas alone is not enough. We must think bigger, conserving across the mosaic of protected and unprotected landscapes that these far-reaching cats inhabit,” she said.</s>Only 7.100 cheetahs left in the world, fears of quick extinction

The sleek, speedy cheetah is rapidly heading towards extinction according to a new study into declining numbers. The report estimates that there are just 7,100 of the world's fastest mammals now left in the wild.

Cheetahs are in trouble because they range far beyond protected areas and are coming increasingly into conflict with humans. The authors are calling for an urgent re-categorisation of the species from vulnerable to endangered. 

 According to the study, more than half the world's surviving cheetahs live in one population that ranges across six countries in southern Africa. Cheetahs in Asia have been essentially wiped out. A group estimated to number fewer than 50 individuals clings on in Iran. 

 Because the cheetah is one of the widest-ranging carnivores, it roams across lands far outside protected areas. Some 77% of their habitat falls outside these parks and reserves. As a result, the animal struggles because these lands are increasingly being developed by farmers and the cheetah's prey is declining because of bushmeat hunting. 

 In Zimbabwe, the cheetah population has fallen from around 1,200 to just 170 animals in 16 years, with the main cause being major changes in land tenure. Researchers involved with the study say that the threats facing the fabled predator have gone unnoticed for far too long. 

 Given the secretive nature of this elusive cat, it has been difficult to gather hard information on the species, leading to its plight being overlooked, said Dr Sarah Durant, from the Zoological Society of London, UK, and the report's lead author.

 Our findings show that the large space requirements for the cheetah, coupled with the complex range of threats faced by the species in the wild, mean that it is likely to be much more vulnerable to extinction than was previously thought.

 Another of the big concerns about cheetahs has been the illegal trafficking of cubs, fuelled by demand from the Gulf states. The young cats can fetch up to US$10,000 on the black market. According to the Cheetah Conservation Fund, some 1,200 cheetah cubs are known to have been trafficked out of Africa over the past 10 years but around 85% of them died during the journey.

 The new study argues for a paradigm shift in conservation, moving away from the idea of just declaring an area to be protected and towards incorporating incentive-based approaches. This, in essence, means paying local communities to protect a species that many see as a dangerous predator. 

 The take-away from this pinnacle study is that securing protected areas alone is not enough, said Dr Kim Young-Overton from Panthera, another author on the report. 

 We must think bigger, conserving across the mosaic of protected and unprotected landscapes that these far-reaching cats inhabit, if we are to avert the otherwise certain loss of the cheetah forever.

 The report has been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.</s>Global cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) populations have crashed, putting the world’s fastest land animal on the brink of extinction, according to an international team of researchers.

The team found that a mere 7,100 cheetah are left in the wild, with the species being driven out of 91 percent of its historic habitat. Populations in Asia have suffered the most, leaving only a small pocket of 50 cheetahs left in Iran, while the majority of the global population is now spread across six countries in southern Africa.

"Our findings show that the large space requirements for cheetah, coupled with the complex range of threats faced by the species in the wild, mean that it is likely to be much more vulnerable to extinction than was previously thought," said lead author Sarah Durant from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).

The team, led by researchers from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and big cat research organisation Panthera, says the animals will face extinction if further conservation efforts are not taken.

It's hoped that their study will prompt the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to upgrade the cheetah conservation status from "vulnerable" to "endangered".

"This study represents the most comprehensive analysis of cheetah status to date," said Durant.

"Given the secretive nature of this elusive cat, it has been difficult to gather hard information on the species, leading to its plight being overlooked."

What makes cheetah so hard to protect is its range - being the fastest land animal, cheetahs maintain a very wide range for hunting prey.

According to the team, roughly 77 percent of a cheetah’s habitat would be outside the world's protected zones, making it difficult to keep them safe from poachers and other dangers.

It also makes it a lot harder to monitor how well the species is doing. With such a large range, population studies have been few and far between, which is why the dramatic population decline is only just coming to light.

This problem is further compounded by the fact that human pressures have also led to a steep decline in cheetah prey. The researchers say that's how Zimbabwe’s cheetah population dropped from 1,200 animals to just 170 over the course of 16 years - an 85 percent loss.

"In many areas, there’s overhunting, which leads to a loss of prey - and if there’s no prey, there can be no cheetah," Durant told Ed Yong at The Atlantic.

"If there are no alternatives, cheetah occasionally take livestock, leading to retaliation. There’s a live trade in cheetah in the Horn of Africa, with captive animals heading towards the Gulf States."

So, how did the team come up with these figures?

They started by gathering existing data from protected parks and other areas around the world. This data is incomplete because it’s only from protected areas - and cheetahs typically extend much further than these reserves - so the team also analysed data from unprotected regions.

With this information, they pieced together how the species’ population has changed over the years, finding that cheetahs now only live in just 9 percent of their historical habitats.

One of the most abundant cheetah zones stretches through six countries in southern Africa, with nearly half of the world’s population - about 4,000 adults and adolescents.

The rest, reports Yong, are found in small pockets around the world, such as one in Iran, where there are just 50 individuals in total.

The team also developed a computer model, which estimated that if the world’s population of cheetah declined by 10 percent per year, over 50 percent of the total cheetah population would likely be gone by 15 years.

Based on these findings, the team is calling for action, asking governments and the IUCN to up the status of the species from "vulnerable" to "endangered" to allow for more comprehensive conservation efforts.

"We've just hit the reset button in our understanding of how close cheetahs are to extinction. The takeaway from this pinnacle study is that securing protected areas alone is not enough," said Kim Young-Overton from Panthera.

"We must think bigger, conserving across the mosaic of protected and unprotected landscapes that these far-ranging cats inhabit, if we are to avert the otherwise certain loss of the cheetah forever."

The team notes that their methods will allow for the study of other threatened species that have been overlooked because of their long range, such as African wild dogs.

Hopefully, the new report will help spur more rigorous conservation efforts for cheetahs before we lose even more of the dwindling population, but only time will tell.

The research was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences publishes research from the Zoological Society of London that the cheetah population approaches extinction with only 7,100 individuals left alive in the wild as a result of a sudden crash in population.