Wildlife tourism is shattering the cub recruitment in cheetahs living in the Maasai Mara National Reserve, showing that's it's not only positive effects from this type of tourism
Wildlife tourism tend to be a great thing for the animals who tourists want to see. While they will experience some disturbance, the cost typically ends up being worth it, seeing as the tourists tend to pay rather large sums of money to be able to experience the wildlife. This money can then be used for paying rangers to protect the animals, build fences, guard nests, and other conservation efforts that help the species survive. Some charismatic species such as elephants and gorillas would be in a much worse position if it were not for tourists who paid big money to experience them.
A female cheetah with cubs in the Maasai Mara National Reserve. Image by Siddharth Maheshwari, posted with CC BY-SA 3.0.
We won’t be going into a lot of details about wildlife tourism in itself, but rather look at one of the negative effects on this type of funding for conservation efforts. We will be looking at how wildlife tourism has been leading to a much lower cub recruitment for cheetahs living in the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya.
Maasai Mara and the cheetahs in the reserve
Maasai Mara National Reserve is a huge game reserve in Kenya. It is home to most of the animals you would want to see during a safari, such as elephants, lions, cheetahs, rhinos, giraffes, zebras, and wildebeests. It’s also very popular for tourists who want to come and look at these animals, and this has had a negative effect on the local cheetah population.
A typical view of the Maasai Mara reserve. Image by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, posted with the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
At first glace the cheetah population seems fine, but the worrisome data first revealed itself once researcher Dr Femke Broekhuis looked at cub recruitment. Dr Broekhuis has been monitoring big cats in the park for several years, and the research paper from this study revealed that each female cheetah with a high tourism disruption would only nurse 0.21 ± 0.72 cubs to independence per litter. This means that roughly only one in five cheetah females would raise a cub to being an adult.
The species average for cheetahs (in low tourism areas) are 2.32 ± 0.11 cubs raised to independence per litter. You can see for yourself that there’s a huge difference here, and it’s pretty obvious that something is wrong with the population in Maasai Mara that are being visited by tourists.
Dr Broekhuis also looked at how the abundance of lions and hyenas in the area close to the cheetahs would affect these numbers, but found that this would not affect it at all. This ruled out these animals as potential troublemakers, and it seems very likely that the number is so low because of the tourists that visit the park and stop their vehicles close to the cheetahs.
Why are the cubs dying?
It’s important to keep in mind that the study says nothing about why the cub recruitment is this low, and it only tells us that it’s much lower in areas with a lot of tourists compared to other areas. In other words, there is no direct evidence that the mortality is caused by the tourists.
By applying what we know about animal behavior, we can reason that the low recruitment might be caused by something like a high stress level for the female mothers, a low food consumption (it is probably more difficult to hunt when a handful of vehicles follow you), or something else entirely.
Cheetahs are “only” considered Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List, so they are not in any direct danger of going extinct in the next few decades. However, problems with cub recruitment can devastate a population in only a few generations, and this is a problem we should take seriously. It’s great that people want to see wild cheetahs in the park, but it’s not worth the death of the cubs.
Wildlife tourism is not bad.. As long as it’s done with moderation!
As I said at the beginning of this post, the income from wildlife tourism has been extremely important for many species, and I believe that some species would actually have gone extinct if it was not for the fact that they were funded by tourism. For this reason I find it a bit odd to write so much negative about wildlife tourism, and my stance on the matter is that we should keep doing wildlife tourism, but keep it within reason.
The research paper recorded some events where cheetahs were observed by tourists, and on one occasion they saw a total of 64 vehicles driving close to the animals within a two hour period. With this amount of tourisms close to the cheetahs, it’s no wonder that their natural behavior is altered, so I believe that we should be warier of this, and enforce restrictions to how many cars that can approach them each day, and how close the tourists can be to the animals.
Research like this is obviously very important if we want to keep doing wildlife tourism, and by having studies like this we can figure out a way for people to enjoy the animals while at the same time minimizing the damage we do to the population.
A cheetah cub. Image by Muhammad Mahdi Karim, posted with the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.
Thanks for reading
Thanks for reading my post! I hope you guys are having a great week, and make sure to stop by the comment section below if you have any questions or comments. The research paper "Natural and anthropogenic drivers of cub recruitment in a large carnivore" by Dr Femke Broekguis can be read for free, so make sure to check it out.
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Nice piece. Yes, I agree. Funding is an important factor which could affect the extent of effort in preserving the nature which includes preservation of a particular species. Getting money from tourists or sponsors are some of the great starting efforts in preserving animals but if it is done excessively, it would impose negative consequences instead.
I have a question though. What is the probability of the unattended cub to survive if they were abandoned by their respective mother in a conservation setting?
Thank you! Yeah, exactly. It's a fine line, and it's pretty difficult to find the sweet spot where they have enough money to protect them without doing damage to the animals.
Good question, but unfortunately I don't have an answer for you. I would assume that it's close to 0 % unless they cubs are a year or older.
Yeah you are right...moderation in wildlife tourism is what is required ...
Cost to benefit analysis need to be performed carefully.
Other wise the system can collapse on itself. "Allow to many tourist(to earn high revenues) and you will be having no wildlife for tourist in next 50 years.
Remember the story "The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs"...
Yes, that's a good way to look at it. Everything has to be done in moderation, but human greed often get in the way of that!
Very interesting read, thank you for raising awareness about this issue. I have always felt like this kind of tourism where people get too close to the animals (whether it is on land or under the sea) must have bad consequences on the animas´ lives, especially when you disturb them with cars or any other machinery. I feel sorry for the cheetahs who - for some reason - seem to be more susceptible to these factors than other species. Hopefully, some limitations and restrictions will follow. I am afraid this safari tourism is slowly becoming just a variation of zoo.
Thanks, @phortun.
Yeah, it's pretty obvious that cars and boats will lead to stress for the animals who are being observed, but it's actually pretty difficult to measure the effect of it. I also hope that the park managers will take studies like this one into account in the future, and limit the interaction people can have with the cheetahs.
I'm not all that familiar with safaris, but from what I understand, some of the reserves are already protected by a huge fence, so I see your point. Still, they are probably much better off in a 1 500km2 cage than a 50m2 cage though!
I can see your point too, having hundreds and thousands of hectars of natural habitat will always be incomparably better for them than being caged in zoos but instead of having the undisturbed life that they are supposed to live, the animals still serve as tourist attractions. Also, what we dont know (and probably never will) is how much money generated by this industry really goes into the wildlife protection and conservation and how much is nothing but profit of the businessmen behind that.
You raise some valid concerns, @phortun. In my opinion, it all depends on the alternative. I have a feeling that a lot of these national parks and reserve would just be exploited by poachers, lumbermen, slash-and-burn farmers etc. if we didn't have wildlife tourism in the area. So while safaris and wildlife tourism is far from perfect, I think it's a better alternative then what would realistically happen in the area if it weren't for it.
But yeah, it would be even better if we could have huge national parks funded by the government, and limiting or elimination most human interaction.
"...lot of these national parks and reserve would just be exploited by poachers, lumbermen, slash-and-burn farmers etc. if we didn't have wildlife tourism in the area..."
This is a very good point @valth. I fully agree with that. I just wish the animals have a bit more "privacy" and less disturbance there. But yeah, almost everything is better than the things you just mentioned...
I think we are on the same page then. The animals in these parks should definitely have the option to have some more privacy. It would be great if only certain areas were available to the public, so the animals could just go away if they didn't want to be bothered. Seeing the animals with binoculars or something like that would still be a great experience for the tourists, while also allowing the animals to life a better life.
Wildlife should be kept forever very good your post is excellent contribution to the call to conscience.
Thank you :)
Happy day friend and this is a major issue, I think that wildlife starts from the premise that the responsible development of tourism allows you to add value to the conservation of the natural areas in which it develops. To achieve this, we must promote the social and environmental responsibility of tourism entrepreneurs, the awareness and responsible use of natural and cultural resources by tourists and a true commitment to sustainability of the whole society.
You make a good point. We can get a long way by promoting awareness of responsible use of the wildlife, but it's difficult to get business owners to take this route when they can make a lot more money by not doing that.
Interesting topic, something should affect the cheetahs, hopefully find what hurts them so tourism does not play havoc with that animal population.
Yeah, it would be great if we find exactly what the problem is, so we can find a way to reduce it without having to get rid of the tourism in total.
Hi @valth, It's been a few days you did not post your article.
I hope you're okay.
I agree with you, the extinct wildlife that is caused by us. Because we disturbed and took their territory. I am sad to hear about cheetah life, they have to protect cheetah and other animals.
I lije your photo, it is very nature.
Have a good day @valth
Hi @aulnyaksyabandi. I'm fine, I'm just a bit busy these days :)
I'm glad you liked it! And have a good day yourself ;)
I am glad you are Ok. Thanks @valth
Well i think its a bad situation for the cheetah and other wild life need a great focus.
Yeah, it's definitely a bad situation for them.
I am from Kenya, i would like to thank you for creating awareness about whats going on in my country. we have been facing a good number of challenges when it comes to wildlife but many measures are now being put in place to ensure that the wildlife are in a safe environment. My prayer is that Kenya will continue offering unmatched safaris to people from all over the globe.
Thank you.
You're welcome! It must be pretty difficult to balance the welfare of the animals with the demands of tourists, but I think safaris right now are mostly doing good work :)
Certainly tourism and wildlife must work at a point where it is win-win ... But it is not easy because there are people who do not respect the life of animals and wildlife. Great article!
Yeah, it's more difficult to find the balance where it's a win-win, especially when money becomes involved and people get greedy!