Ten Wild Cats of Africa

African Cats in the News – Oct to Dec 2024

Ten Wild Cats of Africa

African cats are regularly in the news as the big cats of Africa are well known iconic animals. Besides the three big cats - the African Lion, African Leopard and African Cheetah, there are also seven smaller wild cats which are not often in the news as they are rarely seen or studied. These are the African Caracal, African Serval, African Golden Cat, African Wildcat, Jungle Cat, Black-footed Cat and African Sand Cat.

Here are some interesting news and research items on these ten wild cats of Africa from October to December 2024.

We will update this post regularly until the end of December so be sure to favourite this page or follow our website to check for updates.

Updated: 11 Dec, 27 Nov, 13 Nov, 30 Oct 2024

For news on Lions and Leopards in their Asian range see Panthera Big Cats in the News ~ Oct to Dec 2024.

African Lions in the News

African Lion in the Wild

 

3 Dec - Colossal count shows dire lion numbers in Uganda

... has been involved in a thorough audit of large carnivores in Uganda – and while the result isn’t uniformly bad, he says there is a lot that’s troubling ...

On Cosmos Magazine

9 Nov - Tracking footprints to monitor wildlife: Interview with WildTrack

They’ve also developed an artificial intelligence model that can identify 17 species, including rhinos, lions (Panthera leo) and leopards (Panthera pardus) ...

On Mongabay

7 Nov - Big Cats 24/7 - Big Cats Unleashed on PBS (Lions, Leopards and Cheetahs)

... follow a group of African big cats in Botswana’s awe-inspiring Okavango Delta, day and night for six months, revealing their lives like never before in this six-part series ...

On PBS - Big Cats 24/7

15 Nov - How you can help save free-roaming lions

SACT need your support to get 10,000 of these comics into South African schools – both bordering the Kruger National Park, and around other provincial and national reserves ...

On Africa Geographic

5 Nov - Which is the scariest animal in the Savanah? Study reveals surprising answer

... conducted experiments in Kruger National Park, playing recordings of various sounds at waterholes ...Greater Kruger National Park is home to the world's largest remaining lion population ...

On The Jerusalem Post

African Leopards in the News

African Leopard in the Wild

 

10 Dec - The state of lions, leopards and hyenas in Uganda

Leopards (Panthera pardus) are holding on across the country, and hyenas are faring well. In a collaboration involving more than 100 conservation stakeholders ...

On The Wildlife Society

10 Dec - Festive Greeting and Cape Leopard Trust 2024 Impact Report

It gives us great pleasure to present our 2024 Impact Report which showcases the incredible work and achievements of our team over the last 12 months ...

On Cape Leopard Trust

12 Nov - 14 dramatic moments from the 2024 Nature's Best Photo Awards

2024 WINNER | WILDLIFE | African Leopard Fight, Mashatu Game Reserve,Botswana. “The amount of time invested in getting this image and the ...

On Popular Science

23 Oct - Elusive wildcats may hold the key to healthier forests in Africa

... leopards (Panthera pardus) and African golden cats (Caracal aurata), a small forest cat found only in Central and West Africa ...

On Mongabay

8 Oct - Mud, muddier, muddiest – camera trapping in the Piketberg (South Africa)

... our camera traps have been very active, snapping images of leopards and other creatures in the greater Piketberg region ...

On Cape Leopard Trust

African Cheetahs in the News

African Cheetah in the Wild

 

9 Dec - Namibia takes centre stage on International Cheetah Day

This year, the occasion coincided with the premiere of “Return of the Cheetah,” a new documentary on the Discovery Channel, which highlights critical ...

On Windhoek Observer

6 Dec - Greater efforts needed to protect cheetahs

With fewer than 7000 remaining, cheetahs now occupy less than 10% of their historic global range ... launched a public awareness campaign addressing the large-scale smuggling of cheetahs from Somaliland to the Middle East ...

In Farmers Weekly South Africa

5 Dec - A Cheetah Family Rescued in Botswana

We received a call from the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) that a farmer had caught a cheetah in a trap and she had three, very small cubs with her  ...

On Cheetah Conservation Botswana

4 Dec - International Cheetah Day

The Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) needs your help as you celebrate International Cheetah Day ...

On Cheetah Conservation Fund

15 Nov - JETOUR Joins Hands with Discovery and Cheetah Conservation Fund

The documentary, jointly produced by JETOUR, the Discovery Channel and the Cheetah Conservation Fund, uses the Namibian grasslands in Africa as a ...

On ZAWYA

10 Nov - Photographed first time in a century | Rare spotless golden cheetah spotted in Athi Kapiti Kenya

... a rare spotless cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) sighting shocked the wildlife world as seen for the first time in April 2024 in nearly a century at Athi Kapiti Conservancy in Kenya ...

On Arunachal Observer

28 Oct - How Luxury Pet Trade Pushes Kenyan Cheetahs Toward Extinction

The illicit trafficking of cheetah cubs between East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula poses a threat to the species' survival ...

On Mwakilishi

Link to the research article

There is also a small population of Cheetahs in Iran, Asia and there are attempts to reintroduce Cheetahs to India. Read news about Asiatic Cheetahs at Cheetahs and Pumas in the News ~ Jul to Dec 2024 - Wild Cat Family.

Caracals, Servals and Golden Cats in the News

Caracals, Servals and African Golden Cats are the three medium sized African cats and all three are closely related in the Caracal lineage.

Only the Caracal ranges further into Middle East and Asia - read news about the Asian Caracal at Small Wild Cats of Eurasia in the News ~ Jul to Dec 2024.
African Caracal in the Wild

29 Nov - The importance of rodents to a specialist carnivore in an industrialized site

In this study, we investigated the diet of a specialist carnivore, the serval (Leptailurus serval), inhabiting artificial and natural landscapes surrounding a petrochemical plant in South Africa ...

Research article in Mammalia

8 Nov - Social media can boost caracal conservation (South Africa)

The Urban Caracal Project, established in 2014, uses social media to educate about the caracal (Caracal caracal), a wild cat native to Africa ...

On The Wildlife Society

23 Oct - Elusive wildcats may hold the key to healthier forests in Africa (African Golden Cat)

... leopards (Panthera pardus) and African golden cats (Caracal aurata), a small forest cat found only in Central and West Africa. The golden cat is so elusive ..

On Mongabay

11 Oct - West Africa's forgotten felines endangered by conflict and research gaps (Caracal and Serval)

West Africa's forgotten felines endangered by conflict and research gaps

Mongabay

There are three species of small cats - servals (Leptailurus serval), caracals (Caracal caracal) and African wildcats (Felis lybica) — in the WAP ...

3 Oct - Follow the prey: How servals adapt to an industrialized landscape

A new study finds that servals have surprisingly high densities in the Sasol Secunda petrochemical industrial complex in Mpumalanga, South Africa ...

On Mongabay

Small African Cats in the News

The four smallest African cats are the African Wildcat (or Afro-Asiatic Wildcat), Jungle Cat, the endemic Black-footed Cat and the African Sand Cat, all closely related in the Felis lineage.

Except for the endemic Black-footed Cat there are also populations of the other three species in the Middle East and into Asia. Read news about these cats in their Eurasian range at Small Wild Cats of Eurasia in the News ~ Jul to Dec 2024.

African Wildcat in the Wild

 

29 Oct - Inbreeding adds to growing threats to Africa's smallest wildcat (Black-footed Cat)

The tiny black-footed cat (Felis nigripes) is one of Africa's rarest cats, only found in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana, with a total ...

On Mongabay

11 Oct - Geographical Variation in the Sand Cat

Geographical Variation in the Sand Cat (Felis margarita)

MDPI (Research article)

Sand cats, Felis margarita, range from northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula to Central Asia. Their apparently discontinuous distribution is recognized as comprising four subspecies ...

11 Oct - West Africa's forgotten felines (African Wildcat)

West Africa's forgotten felines endangered by conflict and research gaps

Mongabay

There are three species of small cats - servals (Leptailurus serval), caracals (Caracal caracal) and African wildcats (Felis lybica) — in the WAP ...

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