In 2022 and 2023, a team of researchers from the National Centre for Wildlife (NCW) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, found seven mummified cheetahs and skeletal remains from 54 additional cats in five underground caves belonging to the Lauga cave network near the northern city of Arar.
Their findings, published today in Communications Earth & Environment, give hope for the reintroduction of not only cheetahs to the Arabian Peninsula, but other endangered animals too.
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As a species, cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) emerged during the Pleistocene Period, roughly 1.5 million years ago. Since then, they’ve experienced a steep population decline globally and now live in just 9% of their historic range.
Today, there are five recognised subspecies, only one of which - the Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) - lives outside of Africa. This subspecies is on the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species, with a population of just 50-70 individuals living wild in Iran.
Once a resident of the Arabian Peninsula, the Asiatic cheetah became locally extinct some time in the 1970s. It’s unclear exactly why this subspecies disappeared from the area, though researchers involved with this latest study think it was likely due to a combination of, “habitat loss and fragmentation, prey depletion, human-wildlife conflict, unregulated hunting, and trade in cheetah as pets or game hunting.”
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While rewilding of the Asiatic cheetah on the Arabian Peninsula has been discussed, the feasibility of such a project has been debated due to the minute size of the wild population in Iran and its subsequently small genetic pool. However, the findings of this latest study from the NCW could turn the fortunes of this critically endangered cat around.
The seven mummified cheetahs discovered by researchers from the NCW were radiocarbon dated and found to have lived between 4,240 and 150 years ago. Further DNA analyses revealed only the youngest individual was genetically closest to the Asiatic cheetah; the two older cheetahs, including the oldest dated specimen, were most similar to the Northwest African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus hecki).
According to lead author Ahmed Al-Boug and his colleagues, this suggests subspecies other than the Asiatic cheetah could support the reintroduction of cheetahs to the Arabian Peninsula. “We conclude that rewilding of cheetahs in Arabia can be sourced from the closest subspecies of the discovered cheetahs,” wrote Al-Boug in the article published earlier today.
Such a plan makes rewilding efforts more feasible, as it increases the size of the available genetic pool and, in doing so, reduces the frequency of inbreeding and associated congenital defects, the spread of disease, and, ultimately, the risk of extinction.
As well as offering hope for the reintroduction of cheetahs to the Arabian Peninsula, Al-Boug and others from the NCW believe this latest study provides a framework for others concerned with the reintroduction of animals to areas where previous rewilding efforts have proven difficult. "Our results highlight the important role caves may play as repositories of ancient biodiversity informing, in the absence of benchmark rewilding efforts.”
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In pictures: recovering the mummified cheetahs
Top image: one of the mummified cheetahs preserved in a laboratory. Credit: Ahmed Boug et al. | Communications Earth & Environment
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