With less than 250 individuals in the world, the Saharan cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus hecki ) is one of the rarest carnivores on the planet. This subspecies of cheetah lives in foci of North and West Africa in the Sahara Desert. However, the lack of suitable prey due to poaching have contributed to its inclusion in the critically endangered range of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
The last time the Saharan cheetah was seen was almost 10 years ago , by teams in both Niger and Algeria. Fortunately, it has been sighted once again in the Atakor region, in the center of the Ahaggar cultural park, in southern Algeria.
As quoted by the national news agency Algeria Press Service (APS), the PPCA director said that this project mobilized "around fifty ONPCA agents from different specialties for 120 days and 40 cameras operating continuously, thus generating a new base of data from more than 230,000 photos that are under study ".
Some of these images include a video of a Saharan cheetah climbing a tree in March 2020.
What are these cheetahs like?
They are smaller in size, paler, and more nocturnal than other species of cheetahs. Many researchers hope that conservation efforts will prevent this feline from becoming extinct, as other species such as the Addax antelope or the Dama gazelle are already critically endangered.
