Tracking data from nine Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) collared in the Thabazimbi area, Limpopo Province, South Africa.

Kelly Marnewick, Deon Cilliers, Luke Strugnell, Grant Beverley, Peter Caldwell

The Thabazimbi District in Limpopo was used as the core study area. The mean ranch size in the district is 18km² (KM unpublished data) with the key land-use being wildlife ranching or a combination of wildlife and stock ranching (Wilson 2006). Properties are sporadically fenced and the fencing depends on the property land use (either standard game fencing or cattle fencing). Fences on such properties have not been found to restrict Cheetah movement. However, some properties had predator proof camps and these would restrict Cheetah movement, however was an insignificant proportion of the study area. Three main rivers flow through the area: the Marico River that forms the border with Botswana, the Matlabas River forms the approximate eastern extent of the study area, and the riparian zone of the Crocodile River is used for intensive commercial crop farming. The area is geographically uniform and topographically flat and bordered on the south and south-east by two mountain ranges, the Witfonteinrant Mountains and the Dwarsberge. The Thabazimbi District lies in the Savanna Biome of South Africa and the main vegetation type is Mixed Bushveld, and, where the soil is more clayey, Clay Thorn Bushveld (Low and Rebelo 1996). The area has been historically used for cattle ranching and the bush is encroached over a large portion of the district (KM unpublished data, pers obs.). There are some previously ploughed areas that have since been left fallow. The annual but mainly summer rainfall for the study area varies from 350 mm to 650 mm per year with temperatures ranging from -8°C to 40°C with an annual mean of 21°C (Low and Rebelo 1996). Human population density is low at 2/km² (Statistics South Africa 2001). In addition to free-roaming Cheetahs there are additionally Brown Hyaenas (Hyaena brunnea) and Leopards (Panthera pardus) with occassional reports of African Wild Dog (Lycaon pictus). Prey in the area includes livestock and wild game (Marnewick 2015).

Columbus Zoo, Cat Life Foundation, Duemke Family Trust, Scovill Zoo, Carston Springs Trust and the DST-NRF Centre for Excellence for Invasion Biology

The study covers two provinces within South Africa; the Limpopo Province and the North-West Province. Most data points (> 95%) occur in Limpopo; typically around the Thabazimbi area located in the western reaches of the province. Some of the points (< 5 %) occur in the northern areas of the North-West Province. The study comprised a component of a Doctoral thesis by Kelly Marnewick at the University of Pretoria.

Cheetahs were trapped using double door traps which were placed at three various site location types: 1) using live, but protected, goats (Capra aegagrus hircus) as bait in areas where Cheetahs had been detected 2) on fence lines (standard game fences) frequently walked by cheetahs, and 3) at Cheetah scent marking posts (Marnewick 2015; Marnewick and Cilliers 2006). Trapped Cheetahs were immobilised by a professional wildlife veterinarian and fitted with tracking collars. In instances where coalitions were caught, only one member of the coalition or group was fitted with a tracking collar. Cheetahs were allowed to recover from immobilisation in the trap cage and were released at the site of capture. Cheetahs were monitored for the extent of their life or the life of the collar. All activities involving Cheetah handling and research were done under the guidance of the University of Pretoria Animal Use and Care committee (reference number: EC030-09) and with permits issued by Limpopo Economic Development Environment and Tourism department (the local conservation authority). Trapping success was low with approximately 278 trap days required to trap a cheetah. Cheetahs were monitored for between 28 and 2 119 days, depending on the life of the cheetah or the collar.

Initially, VHF collars (African Wildlife Tracking, Pretoria, South Africa) were fitted to two individuals. Later in the study, these were replaced by GPS/GSM collars (African Wildlife Tracking, Pretoria, South Africa & Hot Group, Pretoria, South Africa) that were utilized to obtain more robust data. The latter devices were set to take either two or four locations per day (at 12h00 and 00h00 for the collars set for two daily locations and additional times of 06h00 and 18h00 for collars with four daily locations). Two collars needed to be replaced as a result of deteriorating batteries. The two male (AM196 - GeorgeJoss) and three male (AS68 - CBU) coalitions were initially monitored using VHF collars resulting in 56 (2.8% of total) and 12 (8.6% of total) data points being obtained respectively. Locations for animals wearing VHF collars were recorded by tracking the individuals from a microlight aircraft with one pilot and one researcher on board. For GPS collars, all GPS fixes were recorded directly from the device and transmitted through the GSM cell phone network. The data were then accessed and downloaded through an online platform. See Table 1

The dataset has gone through a cleaning and georeference verification process to ensure GPS points and location information is accurate. Fourteen records were removed from the dataset as they were determined to be outliers due to their large distance from the study area in general, and also from other consecutive GPS locations. Terms in the dataset are in accordance with those set by the Darwin Core (DwC) Standard (Darwin Core Task Group, 2009). The dataset was published to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) in September 2016, and is thus freely available for download and use (see Usage Rights and Data Resources sections).

The geographic range of the bulk of the dataset covers two South African provinces: 1) the north-west reaches of Limpopo Province and 2) the northern areas of the North West Province (Fig. 1).

Figure 1.  

The spatial distribution of nine collared Cheetahs in South Africa between September 2003 and November 2008.

-25.16 and -23.49 Latitude; 27.81 and 26.50 Longitude.

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Carnivora

Family: Felidae (Cats)

Subfamily: Felinae

Common Names: Cheetah

Genus: Acinonyx

Species: A. jubatus

General taxonomic coverage description: This dataset focuses exclusively on Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), which is categorized as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List (Durant et al. 2015). It belongs to the family Felidae within the order Carnivora.

Use of data is permitted for both profit and non-profit ventures. Data are provided to users but it may not be passed on or redistributed to third parties. The use of this data in other databases is strictly forbidden.