Cheetahs and Hyenas on CCF’s Camera Traps

A wild cheetah decided to say a close-up “hello” to us! This photo was captured by a camera trap placed at one of the ‘playtrees’ inside CCF’s ecological reserve that we monitor on a regular basis.

These ‘playtrees’ are where the cheetahs leave their scents, and they play an essential role for individual cheetahs to communicate between each other in their large home ranges.

Some additional photos of the same cheetah but at a different playtree. With these additional photos we were able to confirm that this is a male cheetah that we first captured on our camera traps in August 2019. He has been coming to our property every couple of months, which is exciting news as it could mean CCF is included in his wider home range and he is doing well as a wild cheetah on Namibian farmland.

April 27th we celebrated International Hyena Day with a close-up “hello” from the elusive species! Although these animals are misunderstood and have a very bad reputation, they are essential to a healthy ecosystem as they are scavengers and remove remains of dead animals which could be breeding ground for many diseases and parasites that could affect other wildlife.

At CCF we have brown hyenas (Parahyaena brunnea – the scientific name). They are classified as near threatened by the IUCN, and their biggest threat is persecution by humans outside protected areas due to the mistaken belief that they are harmful to livestock, as farmers will find them scavenging on livestock carcasses and assume that the hyena was responsible for the kill, even though it has been found that brown hyenas very seldom prey on livestock.

They are very elusive and every now and then we get to see them around CCF – even on camera trap photos they are usually a blur. But here you can see this one very well (…can he see us?). They have striped legs, pointed ears, short tail and a shaggy coat.

Other recent camera trap photos

Test your knowledge of African species! Try to guess the animal before hovering or clicking through to the caption for the answer.