VIRGINIA
TECH WILDLIFE STUDENT
STUDIES CHEETAH HOME
RANGES
BLACKSBURG,
Oct. 17, 2003 -- The
cheetah may be the
world’s fastest land
animal, accelerating
to high speeds in
just a few steps,
but within recent
years the cheetahs
of South Africa are
battling the race
for survival. To find
remedies for this
problem Peter Laver,
a graduate student
in fisheries and wildlife
sciences in the College
of Natural Resources
at Virginia Tech,
is expanding current
research on home ranges
of the cheetah population
located in the Serengeti
National Park in Tanzania,
Africa.
Laver
is developing a proposal
in which he will study
the different aspects
of the cheetah home
ranges by analyzing
data that has been
collected over the
past 25 years. "My
goal is to examine
the population of
cheetahs as a whole,
then break it down
into male and female
to study the differences
and similarities,"
Laver explained.
"The
cheetahs in the Serengeti
have no specific territory,"
said his advisor Marcella
Kelly, assistant professor
of fisheries and wildlife
sciences. "They follow
movements of their
prey along the plains.
Mapping the location
of cheetahs and analyzing
home ranges of both
related and unrelated
cheetahs will help
scientists better
understand the cats'
social arrangement
and organization,"
said Kelly, a world
expert in wild cat
research.
Other
issues of concern
and interest include
how much space the
cheetahs need to live,
the relationship between
mother and offspring;
their migration patterns;
where cheetahs are
located in relation
to lions, who prey
on cheetah cubs; and
the local conservation
problems. Through
the use of computer
mapping skills and
researching the available
data, Laver hopes
to conclude this study
for his master's thesis
by December 2004.
"I hope to travel
to the Serengeti this
winter not only to
get hands-on experience,
but also to gather
GPS (Global Positioning
Systems) readings
in order to correct
the maps I currently
use for research,"
Laver said, who will
be collaborating with
the head researcher
for cheetah study
at the Serengeti.
A
native of South Africa,
Laver came to Virginia
Tech in 2001 as an
exchange student and
before becoming a
graduate student,
had worked with Kelly
on an independent
study to learn about
the cheetahs and analyze
Kelly's data. He received
his bachelor's degree
in forestry in 2002
from the University
of Stellenbosch in
South Africa.
Cheetahs
are predominately
located in East Africa.
They are also found
in South Africa in
protected areas and
in Namibia in unprotected
areas such as private
farms, where they
kill livestock and
come into conflict
with people. Only
one species of cheetahs
exists. They are very
fast animals with
small heads and thin
bodies, and are third
along the food chain
in Africa, following
lions and hyenas.
Virginia
Tech's College of
Natural Resources
has been recognized
by peers as among
the top five. Areas
of studies include
environmental resource
management; fisheries
and wildlife sciences;
forestry; geospatial
and environmental
analysis; natural
resource recreation;
urban forestry; wood
science and forest
products; geography;
and international
development.
For
more information on
the cheetah study
contact Peter Laver
at plaver@vt.edu
or (540) 231-5320
and Marcella Kelly
at makelly2@vt.edu
or (540) 231-1734.
