Assessing the success of the first cheetah reintroduction in Malawi OLIVIA S IE VERT,J UL IE N F ATTEBER T,KELL Y MARNEWICK and ALISO N L ES LI E
Abstract In an effort to restore parts of their historical geo- graphical range, and in recognition of their ability to restore ecosystemfunctioning and of the financial benefits they can provide through ecotourism, large carnivores have been reintroduced in many protected areas from which they were previously extirpated. Similar to dispersing animals, translo- cated individuals often undertake long-distance exploratory movements before establishing home ranges. Post-release monitoring of reintroduced carnivores is common, but the mechanisms of population establishment are rarely exam- ined, limiting our understanding of reintroduction success. We monitored survival and post-release movements of seven cheetahs Acinonyx jubatus reintroduced to Liwonde National Park, Malawi, to evaluate early population estab- lishment. Exploratory phases post-release lasted 29–174 days. Duration of pre-release holding periods in the boma had no significant effect on daily distance moved. Males travelled significantly farther and established home ranges later than females. All cheetahs showed release site fidelity and all females birthed their first litter within 4 months of release. Within 2 years of reintroduction, the newly estab- lished population consisted of 14 cheetahs, with demo- graphic attributes similar to those recorded in the source populations. Based on individual settlement, survival and reproduction rates, we deemed this reintroduction success- ful in re-establishing a breeding population of cheetahs in Liwonde. Our findings suggest the drivers of settlement and population establishment for reintroduced cheetahs are complex, highlighting the importance of assessing and reporting post-release monitoring data.
Keywords Acinonyx jubatus, dispersal, home range development, population establishment, post-release move- ment, settlement, space use, translocation
Introduction G
lobal expansion of the human population has resulted in rapid declines of biodiversity (Ceballos et al., 2020).
To offset biodiversity losses, reintroductions and translo- cations are increasingly used to re-establish wildlife pop- ulations in areas where they were previously extirpated (Bubac et al., 2019). Large carnivores have experienced dra- matic contractions of their geographical range and subse- quent population declines in the past 2 centuries (Ripple et al., 2014). They are now amongst the most commonly re- introduced taxa (Seddon et al., 2005), with reintroductions aiming to recover parts of their historical ranges and restore ecosystem functions (Ripple et al., 2014; Atkins et al., 2019). In South Africa, the historical loss of wildlife, and the
OLIVIA SIEVERT*† (Corresponding author,
olivia.sievert@
gmail.com) and ALISON LESLIE (
orcid.org/0000-0003-3091-7592,
orcid.org/0000-0003-1683-
0474) Stellenbosch University Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa
JULIEN FATTEBERT‡ (
orcid.org/0000-0001-5510-6804) Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, USA
KELLY MARNEWICK (
orcid.org/0000-0001-8463-4307) Tshwane University of Technology Department of Nature Conservation, Pretoria, South Africa
*Also at: African Parks Liwonde, Liwonde National Park, Liwonde, Malawi †Also at: Endangered Wildlife Trust, Modderfontein, Johannesburg, South Africa ‡Also at: Centre for Functional Biodiversity, School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
Received 11 June 2020. Revision requested 14 October 2020. Accepted 26 May 2021. First published online 20 May 2022.
potential financial value of large carnivores through eco- tourism (Di Minin et al., 2013), have led to an increase in reintroductions into fenced protected areas (Hayward et al., 2007a). A managed metapopulation approach has resulted in population increases in lions Panthera leo (Ferreira & Hofmeyer, 2014), cheetahs Acinonyx jubatus (Buk et al., 2018) and African wild dogs Lycaon pictus (Davies-Mostert et al., 2015), and has provided opportu- nities to expand the ranges of large carnivores in various countries. Although pre-release procedures for carnivores have been refined over time to maximize success (e.g. so- called soft releases; Hayward et al., 2007a), few studies have evaluated post-reintroduction movements, settlement and their effects on the early establishment of founder populations (Hunter, 1998; Yiu et al., 2015; Briers-Louw et al., 2019). Successful population establishment requires the settle-
ment of a sufficient number of dispersing individuals that go on to develop a viable population based on the species’ life histories (Hovestadt & Poethke, 2005). Reintroductions are essentially forced dispersals; translocated animals have to adjust to novel resources and environmental conditions (Berger-Tal & Saltz, 2014), and balance a trade-off between exploration and exploitation of their new habitat (Stamps & Swaisgood, 2007). Translocations may fail if released indi- viduals range over large areas, do not establish individual home ranges or have low survival and reproductive rates (Armstrong & Seddon, 2007; Stamps & Swaisgood, 2007).
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Oryx, 2022, 56(4), 505–513 © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605321000788
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