Cheetah Extinction
Humans on Earth have greatly impacted the ecosystems. Cheetah extinction is just another example of one. Habitat loss, human intervention, climate change; they've all contributed to it. Cheetahs have gone extinct in 20 countries, and have shrunk from 100,000 in the 1900s to 10,000 today, although founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) Laurie Marker said that cheetahs are doing a little better than they were a couple decades ago. According to Marker, this is because we know now what is causing the cheetahs to go extinct. With the help of the CCF, cheetah populations have been stabilizing and growing in Namibia. Now it's up to humans to further maintain and grow the populations in other places, and it won't be easy.
There are many reasons why cheetahs are difficult to sustain. For one, they require a lot of room; about 800 miles. This overlaps with urban areas, therefore destroying cheetah habitats. In addition, they have to compete with other wild animals like lions and hyenas that are located in the same area for food. Often, they don't win. That may be why most cheetahs are living in unprotected territory. When they encounter farmers, they're generally seen as a threat to their livestock and are killed. In addition, these livestock often overgraze, leaving cheetahs with little to eat.
I chose this article because I honestly thought that cheetahs were doing fine. I had no idea they were going extinct, and maybe most people don't realize it either. We should raise awareness for it before it's too late and there's nothing we can do to fix it. To support the cheetahs, we could preserve a large area of open land where they don't have to fight with other animals for food and won't interfere with human activities. This would greatly improve the living conditions for cheetahs, and if it goes well, then maybe the cheetah population might even start growing.
“Hopefully if nothing else people will see this beautiful animal and say, wow, we could lose it. The answer to that is yes, we could. And if we do let that happen, shame on us." -Laurie Marker, founder and executive director of CCF
Source:http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/cheetah-threatened/
Article in source written by John R. Platt on October 8, 2015.
There are many reasons why cheetahs are difficult to sustain. For one, they require a lot of room; about 800 miles. This overlaps with urban areas, therefore destroying cheetah habitats. In addition, they have to compete with other wild animals like lions and hyenas that are located in the same area for food. Often, they don't win. That may be why most cheetahs are living in unprotected territory. When they encounter farmers, they're generally seen as a threat to their livestock and are killed. In addition, these livestock often overgraze, leaving cheetahs with little to eat.
I chose this article because I honestly thought that cheetahs were doing fine. I had no idea they were going extinct, and maybe most people don't realize it either. We should raise awareness for it before it's too late and there's nothing we can do to fix it. To support the cheetahs, we could preserve a large area of open land where they don't have to fight with other animals for food and won't interfere with human activities. This would greatly improve the living conditions for cheetahs, and if it goes well, then maybe the cheetah population might even start growing.
“Hopefully if nothing else people will see this beautiful animal and say, wow, we could lose it. The answer to that is yes, we could. And if we do let that happen, shame on us." -Laurie Marker, founder and executive director of CCF
Source:http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/cheetah-threatened/
Article in source written by John R. Platt on October 8, 2015.