Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 27 december 2016

Cheetah numbers decline as African habitat shrinks

CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA 170, according to a sur-
Associated Press vey conducted between
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — 2013 and 2015 by a group
Amid population declines called Cheetah Conserva-
for many wildlife species in tion Project Zimbabwe. The
Africa, conservationists are group solicited cheetah
sounding alarm bells for the photographs and reports of
cheetah, the fastest animal sightings from tourists, safari
on land. guides and others and in-
An estimated 7,100 chee- terviewed more than 1,000
tahs remain in the wild people, including village
across Africa and in a small heads and cattle manag-
area of Iran, and human ers.
encroachment has pushed Cheetah experts note that
the wide-ranging predator Angola is developing a
out of 91 percent of its his- plan to protect cheetahs
toric habitat, according to and African wild dogs. That
a study published on Mon- could yield better data
day. on cheetah numbers in a
Consequently, the chee- country where information
tah should be defined as has been thin, said Rose-
“endangered” instead of mary Groom, a conserva-
the less serious “vulnerable” In this photo taken on Aug. 22, 2012 a couple of cheetahs are photographed in the Tamboti Game tionist who participated in
on an official watch list of Reserve, near Lephalale, South Africa. an October workshop on
threatened species world- -Associated Press the subject in Angola’s Qui-
wide, the study said. hunts livestock. world’s cheetahs live in to find because they move cama National Park.
“This period is really crunch Besides habitat loss, chee- southern Africa, including over vast regions, she said. Despite habitat loss across
time for species like chee- tahs face attacks from vil- in Namibia and Botswa- Durant also led a previous
tah that need these big lagers, loss of antelope na, which have relatively assessment of nearly 6,700 the continent, the Mara
areas,” said Sarah Durant, and other prey that are sparse human populations. cheetahs published last area in southwest Kenya
a cheetah specialist at the killed by people for their Cheetahs have been virtu- year by the International and in the adjacent Seren-
Zoological Society of Lon- meat, an illegal trade in ally wiped out in Asia, save Union for Conservation geti National Park in Tanza-
don and the lead author of cheetah cubs, the traffick- for fewer than 50 in Iran, ac- of Nature, which keeps a nia still offers a refuge, said
the report published in the ing of cheetah skins and cording to the study, whose watch list of threatened Femke Broekhuis, head of
journal Proceedings of the the threat of getting hit by contributors included the species. Since then, experts the Mara Cheetah Project.
National Academy of Sci- speeding vehicles. Panthera group and the have provided new infor- Recent data from a GPS
ences. A cheetah has been re- Wildlife Conservation Soci- mation and refined count- collar on one Mara chee-
About 77 percent of chee- corded running at a speed ety. ing methods, contrasting tah showed that it traveled
tah habitats fall outside of 29 meters (95 feet) per Durant said there was un- with rough estimates in the 19 kilometers (12 miles)
wildlife reserves and other second. The species may certainty over the 7,100 10,000-range in recent de- overnight, she said.
protected areas, the study move more slowly while number, which was based cades. Cheetahs often roam
said, requiring outreach to hunting and it can only on data from experts in ar- The cheetah population alone, though on Monday
governments and villages maintain top speeds for a eas where cheetahs live in Zimbabwe declined morning Broekhuis saw a
to promote tolerance for a few hundred meters. and estimates for other ar- from an estimated 1,500 in rare sight: five male chee-
carnivore that sometimes More than half of the eas. Cheetahs are difficult 1999 to between 150 and tahs, together.q

Vera Rubin, who did pioneering work on dark matter, dies

In this image taken in PRINCETON, N.J. (AP) — been living in the Princeton the universe being normal
the 1970s and provid- Vera Rubin, a pioneering area.Vera Rubin found that matter. Scientists better un-
ed by the Carnegie astronomer who helped galaxies don’t quite rotate derstand what dark matter
Institution of Washing-
ton, Vera Rubin uses find powerful evidence of the way they were predict- isn’t rather than what it is.
a measuring engine. dark matter, has died, her ed, and that lent support to “It goes without saying that,
Rubin, a pioneer- son said Monday. the theory that some other as a woman scientist, Vera
ing astronomer who She was 88. Allan Rubin, a force was at work, namely Rubin had to overcome a
helped find power- professor of geosciences at dark matter. Dark matter, number of barriers along
ful evidence of dark Princeton University, said his which hasn’t been directly the way,” California Insti-
matter died Sunday, mother died Sunday night observed, makes up 27 tute of Technology physi-
Dec. 25, 2016. She
was 88. of natural causes. He said percent of universe — as cist Sean Carroll tweeted
Associated Press the Philadelphia native had opposed to 5 percent of Monday.q