I read in the ZSL magazine that Whipsnade is expecting 3 male cheetah to arrive sometime soon
ZSL Whipsnade Zoo ZSL Whipsnade Zoo News 2022
- Thread starter Lafone
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I read in the ZSL magazine that Whipsnade is expecting 3 male cheetah to arrive sometime soon
Since the female cheetah recently passed 12/4 make these boys moving in slightly easier since they will be the only males for now .. be good to see cheetahs at whipsnade as recently they have been absent on my last few visits, or very shy and only popping out and then going back inside out of view!
Might be the 3 cubs born sometime ago to female Grainne and now grown up enough to part ways. She just had another set in September 2021 with male Archie (first time dat from Dubai).
All are northern cheetah (Acinonyx j. soemmeringii).
Be nice if Whipsnade got into the Northern breeding program too with 1-2 females (as was suggested in the feature).
Lafone
Well-Known Member
They had four left (in the 2021 Audit down to 3 females and a male) and they started to go last year - they were all older.
Gradually they went and then finally the paddocks were opened to make a single one, signalling just one remained.
The audit in Jan 2022 showed there was only the older girl left and she’s the one who just died.
Ectotherm
Active Member
I have pictures of the 7 cubs with mum Dubai dated 25-08-12.
so about 10 years old or less and yet the life expectancy of a captive cheetah is around 17 years
I have pictures of the 7 cubs with mum Dubai dated 25-08-12.
so about 10 years old or less and yet the life expectancy of a captive cheetah is around 17 years
17 years is the upper life expectancy for this species. Very few reach this age.
To use the Cheetah of Orana Wildlife Park as an example:
0.1 Mikumi (founder) died at seven years
0.1 Yatima (first generation) died at seven years
0.1 Kura (second generation) died at five years
0.1 Mazza (third generation) alive at thirteen years
0.1 Nia (fourth generation) alive at seven years
Yatima had 4.2 siblings survive to adulthood. The shortest lived died at seven years of age; the longest lived died at fourteen years of age.
Kura had 3.0 siblings survive to adulthood. They died at nine, ten and fourteen years of age.
Ectotherm
Active Member
I take your point, however from the example you gave most of the captive cheetahs are barely reaching the "wild age" "You" would expect for them to at least exceed that. No stress, any illnesses would be attended to, cushy life style, no hunting required, and much more. This almost suggests that "we" are killing them with kindness.
Many captive Cheetah are affected by kidney disease and other health issues. The genetic variance in both wild and captive populations is low and leads to a high mortality rate.
Even in zoos, very few reach late teens. For those that survive to adulthood, I’d say 10 is probably the median with 90% dying within four years either side of that.
Likely to be the result of the genetic bottleneck affecting the population as a whole that is then worsened by then limited gene pool in captivity it’s a bit like a pseudo bottle neck. Renal failure is unfortunately prevalent in all cat species and it’s not only hereditary but possibly worsened in general by the prevalence of high fat meats in their diet. Cheetahs have been reported as notoriously vulnerable to pathogens and disease. Happy to be corrected but they don’t seem to respond well to treatment. Still if an animal didn’t make 10 i’d be disappointed and if a lineage seemed to expire early I would personally phase it out.
Orana’s Cheetah are an interesting case as they comprise a matriarchal line spanning five generations.
The founding female (born 1990 at Edinburgh Zoo), her daughter and granddaughter all died between 5-7 years of age; but her great grandaughter and great great grandaughter are still alive at 13 and 7 years of age respectively.
Each generation was paired with an unrelated founder male from South Africa, so clearly the male paired with the second generation female has passed on some decent genes. He was an outstanding male all round, being the park’s only male to sire offspring with more than one female.
There is no evidence to suggest wild age is broader and more aged than cheetah in captivity. I certainly do not see sufficiënt evidence for a claim like that (most if not at any time it is the other way around captivity does seem to create preconditions for better life expentancy or longevity.
Correct by all accounts. Genetic bottleneck and inbreeding depression has been rife in the species and I seem to remember that cheetah have gone through more than one bottleneck in the past (I think I did read that somewhere, but cannot recall how, where and when. If I do find so, I will post it .... here).
Genetic bottleneck in Cheetah:
The genetic bottleneck occurred around 10,000-12,000 years ago and reduced the population to less than seven individuals. There’s an article here which is a little simplistic, but explains it well:
Cheetah Extinction › News in Science (ABC Science)
So the evidence seems clear that they are very inbred. But why do some scientists think that cheetahs were reduced to a population of less than seven individuals, about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.
They think less than seven individuals, because it has been shown that if a population is reduced to seven individuals and then expands quickly, the offspring still retain about 95% of their genetic variability. But cheetahs have almost zero genetic variability - there's hardly any difference between them.
They think about 10-12,000 years ago, because back then, there was a massive destruction of many different mammalian species, such as mammoths, sable tigers and cave bears. About 75% of all mammalian species died out in North and South America. So this was probably the "disaster" that knocked off most of the cheetahs. Perhaps this disaster was a severe climate change associated with the tailing-off of the last Ice Age.
Ectotherm
Active Member
You miss-understood, captive animals tend to live longer than wild.
Or am I miss understanding you ?
I totally agree (y)
Make of it what you will: 2 bottleneck inbreeding depression events:
QUOTE:
"The first bottleneck event that cheetahs may have undergone occurred around 100,000 years ago when cheetahs expanded their range into Asia, Europe, and Africa. This range expansion is believed to have occurred rapidly, dispersing the cheetahs over a very large area and thus restricting their ability to exchange genes.
The second likely bottleneck event occurred about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, around the end of the last ice age. In this bottleneck the cheetahs of North America and Europe went extinct, leaving extant only the species' Asian and African populations. As large mammals died out across the world, the number of surviving cheetahs dwindled, which caused extreme inbreeding. Even though the number of cheetahs grew to as many as 100,000 during the 19th century, their genetic variability remained low due to the extreme bottleneck event that took place thousands of years previously."
UNQOUTE
Source: Cheetahs: On the Brink of Extinction, Again
Apparently, a named founder event at 100,000 years ago with modern cheetah evolving in North America. Molecular phylogenetics research signalling cheetahs closest living relatives are pumas and jaguarundis, researchers posit a possible dispersal towards Asia that may have produced the first genetic bottleneck leading to initial reduction in genetic variability punctuated by regular population reduction as well as limiting gene flow through territory protection.
In another twist, ancient DNA shows a fossil puma species (Puma pardoides) from Europe suggesting a migration route over one or more lineages from Asia into the Americas and thus North American cheetah (Miracinonyx) actually being more closely related to present day pumas and jaguarundis.
More recent late Pleistocene bottlenecks for eastern and southern African populations would further deplete variation in both populations ....
Source: Will evolution doom the cheetah? - Understanding Evolution
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Lafone
Well-Known Member
suspect that may be where the carrousel ends up? At least it’s in an area that was already aimed towards visitors
The Hedgehog
Well-Known Member
I’ve never been to Whipsnade,however my Parents took me to London Zoo as a toddler. I’ve always wanted to go. Would you recommend going?
I think it’s positive that Whipsnade are installing the Carousel. Yes it’s sad it’s left London,but at least it’s not been scrapped. The Carousel will appeal to a wider audience than Animatronic Dinosaurs.
I think it’s positive that Whipsnade are installing the Carousel. Yes it’s sad it’s left London,but at least it’s not been scrapped. The Carousel will appeal to a wider audience than Animatronic Dinosaurs.