While you may be oblivious to it, your domestic cat uses Scent-based communication in the cat family is a trait that has remained throughout feline evolution. Even for your domestic cat, letting other cats know that they exist is their way of laying their stamp of ownership on you and your home. Cheetahs – much like other big cats – do the same thing, but on a much larger scale in the vast wilderness that they occupy. With these facts known, what still remains quite obscured is how this communication affects their behaviour towards each other even in absence.
Research involving placing camera traps at identified marking trees has been one useful way to take a peek into this olfactory communication system. Videos and images from these camera traps not only help with observing behavioural patterns of cheetahs, but they also give researchers an impression of their presence and population density. This is one of CCB's longest running research projects, as we have been monitoring cheetah marking trees in the Ghanzi commercial farms consistently since 2008. Data so far has revealed peak visitation times (indicating activity patterns), sex bias at trees (males visit significantly more than females), inter-species dynamics (including an interesting altercation between a cheetah and a brown hyena seen at a marking tree at the same time) and behaviours relating to male territoriality.
Being shy cats, cheetahs can be quite illusive to those seeking to keep an eye on them. As such, employing this silent monitoring approach at trees located on commercial farms provides us with a multi-layered data gathering system. Between anecdotal accounts from farmers and visual data from the cameras, our researchers are building frameworks to understand how trends such as fluctuating visitations may affect current perceptions of cheetah populations in the Ghanzi region. As the research is ongoing, changes in trends are expected. However, it is essential that we continue to look closely at what is happening now, to enable us to forecast what may lie ahead.
Research involving placing camera traps at identified marking trees has been one useful way to take a peek into this olfactory communication system. Videos and images from these camera traps not only help with observing behavioural patterns of cheetahs, but they also give researchers an impression of their presence and population density. This is one of CCB's longest running research projects, as we have been monitoring cheetah marking trees in the Ghanzi commercial farms consistently since 2008. Data so far has revealed peak visitation times (indicating activity patterns), sex bias at trees (males visit significantly more than females), inter-species dynamics (including an interesting altercation between a cheetah and a brown hyena seen at a marking tree at the same time) and behaviours relating to male territoriality.
Being shy cats, cheetahs can be quite illusive to those seeking to keep an eye on them. As such, employing this silent monitoring approach at trees located on commercial farms provides us with a multi-layered data gathering system. Between anecdotal accounts from farmers and visual data from the cameras, our researchers are building frameworks to understand how trends such as fluctuating visitations may affect current perceptions of cheetah populations in the Ghanzi region. As the research is ongoing, changes in trends are expected. However, it is essential that we continue to look closely at what is happening now, to enable us to forecast what may lie ahead.
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