Africa Wild

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Cheetah Spotted in Djibouti for the First Time in Over 30 Years


by John Yeld@Groundup_newsAug 3, 2023





Houssein Rayaleh, a member of the research team representing Association Djibouti Nature and the Djibouti Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, explained that although cheetahs were presumed to possibly still exist in the country, there had been no confirmed sightings in Djibouti for more than 30 years.

The cameras were set at carefully selected sites to shoot bursts of three frames when triggered by a passing animal. Although 27 of the cameras malfunctioned or were broken or stolen, the team was able to process images from more than 1,300 trap nights in total.

The camera traps picked up caracal, spotted hyena, and three potential cheetah prey species: dorcas gazelle (a small, common antelope), gerenuk (a long-necked medium-size antelope also known as the giraffe gazelle), and Salt’s dik-dik (another small antelope).

Then came the exciting find. At 1:59am on 30 March last year, a camera on the rugged and remote Digri Plateau in the south-east of the country recorded six images of a cheetah of unknown gender.

Murgatroyd cautioned that further research was necessary to assess the possibility of cheetah population(s) in Djibouti.

https://www.goodthingsguy.com/environme ... oAJY38KCf4

An escaped pet?