Asiatic cheetahs forced to hunt livestock

A study shows that Asiatic cheetahs, one of the most endangered species in the world, are forced to hunt domestic animals because their wild prey has been reduced by humans.

Scientists have found that the cheetahs, which are critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List, can not survive on smaller prey and are therefore are being forced to eat livestock.

The discovery has been published in the Journal of Arid Environments, following investigations by a team of international scientists. The team were in Iran over a five-year period researching what animals eat in two places where game is reduced by poachers.

Their results showed that the cats' diet consisted partly of rats and rodents, which do not give a significant source of nutrition. However, the cheetahs mainly fed on medium-sized herbivores - livestock if necessary.

Due to the low population of cheetahs, the hunting was reported not to have affected local herders.

It is thought that as little as 70 Asiatic cheetahs are still living in the wild - all living in Iran - and, following the discovery, scientists believe a clamp-down on poaching is the best way to save the species.

Dr Laurie Marker, founder and executive director of the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia, collaborated the study. He explained: "The hare or the rabbit... [are] a very important part of their diet. But that's such a hard thing to catch for so little that it's not sustainable."