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Cheetahs Heading Towards Extinction as Population Crashes (bbc.com)

Posted by msmash on from the shape-of-things-to-come dept.

The sleek, speedy cheetah is rapidly heading towards extinction according to a new study into declining numbers. From a report on BBC: The report estimates that there are just 7,100 of the world's fastest mammals now left in the wild. Cheetahs are in trouble because they range far beyond protected areas and are coming increasingly into conflict with humans. The authors are calling for an urgent re-categorisation of the species from vulnerable to endangered. Cheetahs in Asia have been essentially wiped out. A group estimated to number fewer than 50 individuals clings on in Iran. [...] In Zimbabwe, the cheetah population has fallen from around 1,200 to just 170 animals in 16 years, with the main cause being major changes in land tenure.

4 of 120 comments (clear)

  1. Cheetahs have low genetic diversity by haruchai · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://cheetah.org/about-the-c...

    About 12,000 years ago, a mass extinction event occurred that eliminated 75% of the world’s large mammal species. Fortunately, a handful of cheetahs managed to survive this extreme extinction event and were able to restore the world’s population of cheetahs.

    This event caused an extreme reduction of the cheetah’s genetic diversity, known as a population bottleneck, resulting in the physical homogeneity of today’s cheetahs. Poor sperm quality, focal palatine erosion, susceptibility to the same infectious diseases, and kinked tails characteristic of the majority of the world’s cheetahs are all ramifications of the low genetic diversity within the global cheetah population

    --
    Pain is merely failure leaving the body
  2. Re:So overpopulation is not an issue? by Stephan+Schulz · · Score: 3, Informative

    Start sending lots of birth control devices (condoms, IUDs, birth control shots, ect) to Africa...

    To quote Christopher Hitchens: "[The cure to poverty is] colloquially called the empowerment of women" .

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    Stephan

  3. Re:So overpopulation is not an issue? by DreadCthulhu · · Score: 5, Informative

    Africa is where most of the population growth is coming from, so that is where it makes sense to focus efforts on awareness of birth control, and get people to chose quality of children over quantity of children. China, for example, doesn't need any additional birth control programs since their birth rate is already below replacement level. The UN estimates China's population will decline from its current 1.4 billion to 1 billion by 2100. The UN also estimates India will grow from 1.3 billion now to 1.6 billion by 2100. By contrast, Africa is estimated to grow from its current 1 billion people to over 4 billion by 2100.

  4. Re:What does this have to do with tech? by T.E.D. · · Score: 1, Informative

    Why? The USA is already having children at a rate below replacement levels. The only reason its population hasn't been SHRINKING the last couple of decades is immigration.

    If you're one of the people who thinks population growth is a problem, the USA is not the place to try to attack the problem. Its a model to be emulated.