Copyright 2001, Environmental News Network
October 02, 2001

The big cats of Namibia -- lions, leopards and cheetahs -- are under scrutiny in Illinois at the request of the Namibian government. The researchers say their discoveries will help with the management of the threatened felines in Africa, as well as those in zoos throughout the world.

"The government of Namibia has genuine concerns about how to best manage its animals," said Michael Kinsel of the Zoological Pathology Program at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine. "These concerns are very important for the international wildlife community."

 Namibia, a country on the west coast of southern Africa, sought help from Chicago's Brookfield Zoo and the University of Illinois (UI) in 1994. A collaborative program now focuses on the 8,600 square-mile Etosha National Park, one of the major sanctuaries for wildlife in Africa.

There are 144 mammal species in the park including elephant, giraffe, wildebeest, black rhino, lion, cheetah and leopard.

The research has led to an unprecedented database of demographics, habitats, diseases, genetics and reproductive issues related to the lion. Two years ago, the researchers reported that all of Africa's lions south of the equator are of the same sub-species, said Michael Briggs of the Chicago Zoological Society at the Brookfield Zoo.

"We found regional differences, displayed in their adaptation to their environment, but it was clear from a genetic standpoint that it wouldn't hurt to move animals from one place to another," he said.

Various samples of tissue, blood, serum, parasites, and sperm have been studied and archived at the zoo and at the UI Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in Urbana.

Now Kinsel and Briggs are working with the Namibian Carnivore Monitoring Program, a collection of government and non-government agencies and interested individuals, to obtain the same information for leopards and cheetahs.

Jean Dubach, a geneticist with the Chicago Zoological Society, and Robert Murnane of the UI Zoological Pathology Program are also primary members of their team.

"If we can see the differences between free-ranging and captive animals, we can enhance management in both habitats," said Kinsel, who travels with Briggs to Namibia a couple of times a year for fieldwork and to train local workers to collect samples and perform necropsies.

"A big question is what diseases affect leopards," said Kinsel from his office at Loyola University near the zoo. "If you search the literature, you will come up with very little. Nor do we know much about the genetics of leopards. They are secretive animals. Namibia doesn't know how many animals there are in the country, but there are populations that have been tracked for two years."

Applying their approach to cheetahs is important, they said. Namibia is home to 70 percent of the world's cheetah population.

"If we lose Namibia's population, we will have essentially lost the cheetah, because populations elsewhere are smaller and isolated," Kinsel said.

Although the cheetah is considered endangered and is protected by international treaty, Namibia permits trophy hunting and an annual quota of 150 animals has been established.

Leopards are also covered by the highest level of international protection, yet a system has been in place since 1983 by which selected countries accept an annual quota for the export of legitimate sport hunting trophies and skins. Namibia allows 100 leopards a year to be killed.

Lions in Namibia are not as highly protected as cheetahs and leopards, and trophy hunting is permitted by the Namibian government.

In the future, the Illinois researchers have plans to create comprehensive databases of the spotted hyena, the African dog and the black-backed jackal in their natural environments. Error: Unable to read footer file.