Did you know that we don’t have reliable information about the population size of cheetahs and leopards in Etosha National Park? Estimating carnivore numbers in Namibia’s iconic Etosha National Park remains a challenge, yet this knowledge is vital for safeguarding these apex predators and the delicate ecosystem they inhabit. In 2024, the Greater Etosha Carnivore Programme took on the mission to bridge this critical knowledge gap. Through large-scale surveys across the park (see our past blog entry), the team aims to uncover reliable data that will inform conservation strategies and ensure the survival of these keystone species for generations to come.
On 1 June 2024, we launched an exciting citizen science survey that invites visitors to Etosha National Park to play a direct role in wildlife conservation. Led by Mburaje Keja, a Master’s student from the Namibia University of Science and Technology in partnership with ORC, this year-long project uses images taken and shared by park visitors to identify individual cheetahs and leopards. This is possible, thanks to their unique coat patterns. By applying state-of-the-art identification techniques, Mburaje aims to produce the first-ever population estimates for these elusive predators. Additionally, once images and the required information have been received, they are uploaded to the African Carnivore Wildbook (ACW), a tool used for the individual identification of carnivores. This online platform is a groundbreaking conservation tool, harnessing Artificial Intelligence’s power to identify similar patterns on animal coats and return a list of potential matches for the researcher to review.
We have now received 123 submissions from 32 participants. From these submissions, we identified 30 individual cheetah (85 sightings) and 15 individual leopard (38 sightings). Unfortunately, we could not identify a number of individuals, due to lacking image clarity. Most individuals were observed in the eastern parts of the Park (Figure 2), with a few sightings observed more centrally. No observations were recorded in the Park’s western section.
Most observations (68 of 123) came from a single participant, a guide based at a lodge near the eastern entrance gate of the Park. This not only highlights the difference in interest in this survey among visitors but also hints at a potential bias in the data. Indeed, seeing that most sightings are concentrated more easterly, it is likely that this is a result of higher tourism traffic. However, this could also be explained by higher prey availability and more suitable habitats in these areas. Adding the data collected from a camera trap grid deployed across Etosha (see our past blog entry) should improve our understanding of the source of this spatial bias.
This study explores the potential of citizen science in collecting large-scale carnivore data, and by extension contributing to the conservation of cheetah and leopard, but also looks to engage people beyond the scientific community – hopefully fostering a deeper connection to nature and a greater understanding of the ecological importance of large carnivores. Local guides and visitors, both international and Namibian, are participating in this survey, which will help boost awareness and involvement in wildlife conservation. The results presented here are only preliminary, and the data will be analysed in a spatially explicit capture-recapture framework once the survey is completed. You can find more information about the ongoing survey here.
