De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Trust, North West Province, South Africa

Research

“RESEARCH” means different things to different people. Too many, especially animal rights groups but also large part of the public it has very negative connotations. People have visions of brain electrodes, drug trials for development of human medicines and other similar things. Then there are scientists who do research simply for the sake of publications and bolstering their CV’s. You may rest assured that none of the above is true for de Wildt. Research will only be approved if it is in the interests of the animals – it must either benefit their health or contribute to conservation of the animals in the true sense of the word.

At de Wildt much of the “research” has formed or forms part of normal daily procedures such as feeding, breeding, raising of cubs and measures to prevent or control diseases and parasites. Although the number publications resulting from work at or on specimens from de Wildt exceeds 100, a considerable amount has not been published. De Wildt’s track record on the other hand speaks for itself – over 700 cubs bred with a survivability of 75 %, the first CITES-approved breeding station in the world, excellent longevity in terms of cheetahs, over 140 free-ranging cheetahs translocated to new reserves and so on – an almost never ending list. One of de Wildt’s greatest strengths besides all the people who work there is the numbers of animals that are used to generate data. Where else in the world do vets have more than 3-6 cheetahs to work with at a time?

Research at de Wildt started way back in the mid-seventies when very little was known about breeding of cheetahs in captivity, their diseases and parasites and most other things. With Woody and soon afterwards Brough and Henk, Ann soon learnt the secrets cheetah reproduction and cub raising. From there, despite setbacks from time to time, other secrets have been unravelled – all to the well-being and conservation of cheetahs, wild dogs and raptors.

The current list of ongoing research projects is:
Iam’s nutrition trial evaluating the role of nutrition in the incidence and survival of cheetahs with gastritis and renal disease. The data collection is complete and is now being analysed. At least 3 journal articles should be generated;
Genetic diversity study of de Wildt cheetahs – PhD study;
DNA microsatellite analysis using faecal samples – MSc study;
Parentage analysis of free-ranging African wild dogs – MSc study completed this year and sponsored by SASOL;
Comparison of gastritis scores between cheetahs at de Wildt and Africat: results of serial data collection over the past 3 years are under analysis. Journal article is planned;
Research into the significance and prevalence of inflammatory lesions in the maxillary palatine clefts of cheetahs;
Comparison of disease prevalence between cheetahs housed at several Southern African institutions: on-going data collection and database recording;
Validation of serum cystatin as an early indicator of compromised renal function in cheetahs – MSc study
Biomechanics of cheetah locomotion;
Contraception of African wild dogs – MSc study;
Diagnostic imaging of cheetahs - ongoing but has already yielded one publication;
Arterial blood pressure in conscious and anaesthetised cheetahs;
Role of corona virus in disease of cheetahs ongoing but has already yielded one publication.

Henk Bertschinger
De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Centre Management Committee