Monitoring the re-introduced cheetahs in Bellebenno.

Hello!

This is Aymeric Houstin, a student intern at CCF. I am in the bush at the camp site with James and Ryan, tracking the girls since the release.

Below is a journal I kept the three days Ryan and James were not with me (the 15th to the 18^th September). Basically it ‘s just a record of my feelings about the cats. I hope you enjoy it.

Wednesday 15th september. Day 15.

The girls are sleeping when I arrive (at 11H) because of the kill of an eland calf in the morning. I don’t really know these cats but my first feeling is that they are really used to people and we don’t matter of them (we are a bit over 15 meters from them). By the way, it’s quite easy to collect data and follow them but I hope they will lose this behaviour with the time and become more…wild.

At 14h as we are going for lunch, we have to go back to CCF because of car issues. So my first day of observation is just from 11 to 14h.

Thursday 16th september. Day 16.

Location for today on BBNO map : B1-C1-D1-C2-D2.

In the morning, the cats walk on the road along the fence of Franz Indongo property then go into the bush, come back on the road…several times. Finally Hershey follows a warthog coming through a swing gate and then escaping through this same swing gate. She doesn’t seem to understand the mechanism of the swing gate and how the warthog is able to go through the fence (CCF is researching the effectiveness of swing gates to allow the movement of digging animals while stopping predators from going through fences, so this is good news). She ran after this warthog but  was not really chasing. It was just an opportunity for her. She saw something running so she ran; more like a reflex. She did not really try to catch it.

My first feeling is that Chanel seems to be the most detached of the four girls. She tends to walk in the bush while the others are on the road, she likes to lie down alone sometimes.

This morning, for the first time (James told me), Hershey was aggressive toward us ; Actually, we think that we surprised her and she wasn’t expecting to see something coming through the bush and appearing 10m away from her.

These cats look fit. They rest all day long and purr often (actually more often than I thought).

After resting all day, at 17h30, Chanel tracked and killed a female kudu. According to James, so far, it is always the same tactic: Chanel kills, Hershey opens the carcass, Toblerone keeps the prey down and Nestle watches. I wonder how long we will wait to see one of the others kill something. The sooner this happens, the better. Chanel can’t be the only one hunting!

It’s surprising to see that so far, the girls’ territory is just across the cheetah pens and the camp site. Is there a link ? Or just the vegetation and the prey density is better for them where they are now? We’ll have to keep an eye on that.

Friday 17th september. Day 17.

Location for today on BBNO map : C1-D1-C2-D2.    

Early morning, we return to the carcass. The girls are still there. They have just eaten a part of the hindquarters. The kudu’s skin and meat of the kudu might be too hard. They struggle to eat. Nestle punctures the stomach when she tries to open the body. Scared by the noise, she runs off and gives up for a while! Obviously, they will need to acquire some experience! It will be interesting to see if they hunt a kudu again in the future and if they will become specialised for one or two species.

Finally at 9 they penetrated the back of the kudu but are not really eating. Are they not hungry? Don’t they like kudu (they have already eaten this meat in CCF’s pens)? Is the kudu sick? Fortunately there are no other predators in Bellebenno so these cats have all the time they want to eat and spend with the carcass. They are not in a rush; they have time to learn.

 At 13h20, Hershey starts eating the face of this kudu (cheek). Toblerone is lying down next to the carcass and doesn’t seem to care; then she seems to become interested. Some small « fights »  (swaps) between them. Toblerone waits at first, but finally bored she moves Hershey; however, Chanel comes and both of them stay in one side of the kudu, not eating, just struggling to have the kudu. Is it the expression of a dominant behavior --Toblerone chasing Hershey and then Chanel struggling with Toblerone?

After eating, for the first time since at least the release, Hershey and Chanel are grooming.

Finally, in the early evening, they give up this carcass. When they walk, sometimes, one of them loses the others and they vocalise to find the others. They appear to find comfort in being together.

Saturday 18th september. Day 1_.

Location for today on BBNO map : C1-D1-C2-D2 then C1-C2-B1-B2 then B1-B2-A1-A2 then drinking water at Sukkel dam then B2 B3 A2 A3 and back to rest all day in A1 A2 B1 B2. Everything between 6 and 10 am. Afternoon and evening quiet.

As we expected, the cats moved a lot this morning (5 or 6 km from 6 to 10 am). Sometimes running after something. They drank water at Sukkel Dam for a few minutes; Chanel more than the others. She seems to be more independent/solitary. This morning, she lies down 5 minutes while the others continue to walk and finally, the others came back vocalising. She seems to be closer to Toblerone, then Nestle and finally Hershey, in this order. Nestle seems to be the laziest.

So this morning they had water! Wild cheetahs are not supposed to drink often. This habit is probably an inheritance of their stay in captivity.

Greetings,

Aymeric

OK Clan cubs Update

Hi everyone,

 

More photos for you: a close up of Peter (bet you will want to use this one as wallpaper!) and two cheetah cubs sharing a lunchtime bone.  In addition to their raw “meat balls,” the cubs love to chew and tear on a rib bone. When we first introduced the bones they ate very little but now they are a few weeks older, they rip into the meat with gusto, it’s a real lunch time favourite!

What a difference a few weeks makes.

Jane

 

Hi-Fi gets a new collar

Remember the two wild males that had been hanging around the CCF compound for the last couple of years: Sam and HiFi --named after former Namibian President Dr. Sam Nujoma, and our current president Hifikipunye Pohamba. At the end of August we reported that Sam was found dead of unknown causes.

We captured HiFi on the 18^th to check on him and replace his collar. He is in excellent shape at 53 kgs and perfect teeth. We took samples and measured him, checked him from head to tail, and replaced his collar with a satellite collar.

HiFi stayed overnight in a quarantine pen and released the next morning after a meal. I have included a photo of his release.

Cheetah purrs,

Patricia

 

The Okakarara Cubs Update

Here are a couple of photos of the Okakarara cubs --or the OK Clan-- just received from Namibia. A tired out little cheetah cub takes a rest following an afternoon of playing with her siblings, and two little cubbies napping after an afternoon of playing. At nearly seven weeks old, the cubs are eating well and becoming much more aware of their environment. They will start getting three feedings per day as of today.

The cubs have been named. The sweet little female is Tiger Lily, who according to Laurie came out screaming like a tiger! And since OK Clan sounds like a Western, and Tiger Lily was an American Indian saved by Peter Pan, that’s what we named the small male cub. The bigger male cub was named KhayJay, keeping with the Indian theme in mind –although this from the Hindu word that means “charge into action,” which is just what we’re doing for the cheetah! Finally, the other little female is Seney (a Turkish word meaning Lovely like the Moon).

We hope you like the names. We’re also happy to report that Chewbaaka is doing great, and so are all the puppies.

Patricia

 

 

Cub Picture

Here is one the four cubs (female) peeking out from behind her sibling.  The sibling, a male, is enthralled with CCF’s ambassador cat Chewbaaka, who was taking a rest in the shade.  The cubs are playing outside regularly and love to chase each other around their area - Jane

Jane

 

The Okakarara cubs - Photos

For unknown reasons the photos may not display correctly. To view the whole image please click on them individually.







Here are some photos of the little cubs.

Patricia

Training scat sniffing dogs

Steve Austin training Isha (the Anatolian) and Finn (Border Collie) with Carolyn.

Patricia

 

Cheetah Release - 1 Sept 2010

Sorry for the delay. Blogger wouldn’t take all the pictures and this message just got returned to us.

As you might have learned from on our most recent eLetter, Hershey, Toblerone, Nestle and Chanel were collared last June in preparation for their soft release in CCF’s 4,000-ha Bellebenno research game camp as part of CCF’s research into cheetah re-introductions. The camp serves as a “training ground” for orphaned cheetahs that show good potential for release. The four females  will be monitored and fed by CCF staff as they learn how to hunt. Once they are hunting successfully, they will go to the next stage: their final release into the wild, still under the careful monitoring of CCF staff.

As planned, the three Chocolate Girls and Chanel were released on the 1st September and we just received some pictures from Rob in Namibia.  We released the females about noon.  The release went well – three of the females went out right away following the feed truck with an oryx in the back.  One of the females helped James by pulling the carcass out of the back of the truck and grabbed it by the throat in a strangulation hold. The fourth cheetah, Nestle did not figure out how to get out of the one hectare pen at Bellebenno but finally we were able to coax her out an hour or so later at which point she joined the other three girls who were already gorging on the oryx.  James, Matt and Ryan stayed out all night to monitor them. James will be training several of our staff in tracking and following.    Chanel stayed by the oryx near Bellebeno and the three Chocolates moved to one of the waterholes called Hog’s Heaven.  All look to be OK.

We also have Steve Austin here – a dog trainer from Australia, and we took the dogs over to the cheetah release pens to look for scat. He has spent over 20 years training detection dogs throughout the world – dogs trained for drugs, plants and fruit at the airports, as well as conservation detection dogs. Steve is training Carolyn who has been working with the dogs for several months, as well as training the dogs, Isha and Finn.  I am watching everything I can, and am filming the training process.  I went out today with them into the Big Field. Isha is amazing – she was focused and sat like a star.  Finn is not as structured – but he works the area better and finds what he is looking for – they are great and Steve Austin is amazing.

That was the same day we received a call from the Ministry in Otjiwarongo for a confiscation of the four cubs in Okakarara. The cubs are about one month old, two males and two females.  They were caught by a communal farmer a week ago.  .

Dr. Steve O’Brien, Chairman of our CCF USA Board, arrived last week and gave a talk at the University of Namibia on Friday. 

Last week we also had a group from the University of Namibia and the Ongongo College to learn mainly about bush harvesting and Bushblok.  The group was amazing – all biology and agriculture students – one of our past students and then staff – Fanuel Ekondo – was a part of the group!   We also had a professor from South Africa who came to learn about our goat dairy program and develop a grant with me to grow this project.  

Below are Rob Thomson’s photos and comments about the release. I will post pictures of the four cubs, the dog trainer and Uschi’s AI puppies separately.

Laurie and all

     

Chanel and Toblerone walk cautiously down the passageway to freedom.  At this point they are already past the inner gates, and stand just a few short metres from the wild.

           

This is the moment we've all been waiting for, as after years of preparation, the ever-bold Chanel, becomes the first to leave the pen and enter the world of a wild cat.

    

       

Chanel stays in the lead, her eyes fixed on the fat gemsbok carcass on the back of the bakkie before her. 

      

     

Hershey (on left), Chanel, and Toblerone are free at last!  Dr. Marker is visible on the extreme right as she watches a dream coming true.

            

Hershey samples the sweet air of freedom as she gazes into a distance that for one is not marred by a fence.

     

     

Chanel, Toblerone and Hershey dig into their Gemsbok carcass.

            

Having been the first to feed, Chanel (on right) pauses to look around, while Toblerone and Hershey continue to dig in.

            

A close up of Chanel, with the radio-collar that we'll be using to help track her clearly visible.

           

The stage is set.  In the foreground, Hershey, Toblerone and Chanel continue to eat, while behind them our videographer, Ryan, films the occasion.  Ryan will be joining chief tracker, James Slade, for the next two weeks, while he follows every move of our newly released ladies.

Rob

Chewbaaka work up today

We did a major work up on Chewbaaka today to rehydtate him. 2 liters IV fluids and 3 liters sub Q fluids. He has been having eye problems so we looked carefully -an ulcer in each eye. We also took blood to see how he is doing overall so we can plan more for his health treatments, especially since I leave for Europe and the USA in a week. Finally, working with Dr. Steven O'Brien who is here now, we took genetic samples for genome sequencing. Chewbaaka is doing fine now after an hour and half anesthesia. So am I!

CCF Trustee, Polly Hix, arrived this morning with our new Kangal livestock guarding dog, Aleya. She is two months old and is now with the little goat kids.

The leopard last evening was 8-9 months old. We collected samples, weight, and measurements. All went well.

The new cubs are doing well. They are eating and sleeping and are very playful when awake! So far so good.

We had a group of 60 students from a variety of schools in Namibia.

All else ok.

Dr. Laurie Marker
Executive Director
Cheetah Conservation Fund

Leopard and cheetahs oh my

We worked on Klein this morning due to leg lesions again.
Cubs doing ok. The little female drank from the bottle; the other three are eating from a bowl.
Off to work on leopard in cage at neighbour's farm.
Planning on working on Chewbaaka tomorrow.
Dr. Laurie Marker
Executive Director
Cheetah Conservation Fund