laurie marker at rpz

Founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund (Namibia) doing a special evening presentation at Reid Park Zoo on April 26, 2010. Her organization does work on a much bigger scale than I had imagined - just fantastic! At the end of the talk, our zoo\'s teen volunteers (who have their own conservation fund from selling glo necklaces, etc at special events) presented her with a check for $1,000.

cheetah subspecies

Since there was no formal question and answer period after the talk, those of us with questions just formed a small line and waited to talk to her one on one. My question was if she considers subspecies separation valid, considering how closely related cheetahs are.

Her answer is NO, cheetahs are all the same (even the so-called asian cheetah), and that in two to three years genetic studies will prove that there are no subspecies of cheetah. This also explains why they can go ahead with the proposal to reintroduce cheetahs into India (and maybe Russia) using African animals.