News
Investigating cheetah presence in Tanzania’s Selous–Nyerere ecosystem
Up-to-date information on species distribution is vital for effective conservation planning. In an effort to fill information gaps on cheetah presence in Tanzania, Lion Landscapes / WildCRU researchers and partners conducted spoor and camera-trap surveys in the Selous Game Reserve and Nyerere National Park from 2020 to 2022. These parks are part of the broader Selous–Nyerere ecosystem which extends over 90,000km2 and is the largest tract of potential cheetah habitat in the country for which data are lacking. The last confirmed cheetah sighting in this landscape was in the 1990s.
The spoor surveys covered 2,786km of road, recording all signs of large carnivores and their prey. Camera-trap grids totalling 319 paired stations covered a combined area of 3,865km2. Although this effort was relatively extensive and representative, no evidence of cheetahs was recorded. Enquiries with photographic and hunting tourism operators, protected area managers, rangers and game scouts also provided no evidence of current or recent cheetah presence.
While confirming absence with complete certainty over an area this large is virtually impossible, the authors believe their results indicate that cheetah persistence is unlikely. They also question whether the landscape ever hosted an independent resident population – postulating that previous records could have been dispersers from elsewhere, or that Selous–Nyerere formed the endpoint of one or more connected populations.
This work was led by WildCRU’s Charlotte Searle and Paolo Strampelli in collaboration with co-authors from Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI), Tanzania National Parks Authority (TANAPA), Tanzania Wildlife Management Authority (TAWA) and Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS). The study’s findings were presented at a 2022 meeting convened to revise the IUCN/SSC Eastern Africa Regional Conservation Strategy for Cheetah and African Wild Dog. They have just been published in Oryx.
Searle CE, Strampelli P, Haule L, et al. Cheetahs in Tanzania’s Selous–Nyerere ecosystem: lack of evidence for current persistence, and reflections on historical status. Oryx. 2023:1-5. doi:10.1017/S0030605323001424
