Research Summary
North-central Namibia — Cheetahs can run 110 kilometers per hour, yet they can't run away from habitat loss, a reduced gene pool, and conflicts with humans and their livestock. Namibia is home to the world's largest remaining cheetah population, with 90 percent of its cheetahs living on livestock farmlands where conflict with humans is the greatest threat. The survival of the Namibian cheetah lies in the hands of about 1,000 commercial farmers, who generally view this predator as a threat to their livelihoods. In the 1980s, the Namibian cheetah population declined by half as farmers killed over 6,000 animals, and then another 3,000 in the 1990s. Dr Laurie Marker, founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, has been collecting essential data on cheetah behavior and ecology and working with Namibia's farmers to change their attitudes toward cheetahs. But to save the cheetah from local extinction, she needs your help.
Meet the Scientists
Dr Laurie Marker
Cheetah Conservation Fund
Consider spending time with us in Namibia to help save the wild cheetah. The projects that you, as an Earthwatch volunteer, will contribute toward during your stay are many and varied. Each task, whether menial or exciting, contributes to the whole. Since our beginning, volunteers have been the backbone of CCF's programs and been crucial to our success. We hope you will join our team and help our efforts to conserve the endangered cheetah.
Dr Laurie Marker, co-founder and Executive Director of the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), holds a B.Sc. degree from Eastern Oregon State University and a Ph.D. from the University of Oxford. During 16 years at Wildlife Safari in Oregon, she helped establish the most successful captive cheetah-breeding program in North America. She has been conducting research on cheetahs in Namibia since 1977 and her studies have investigated conflicts between livestock farmers and cheetahs, reintroducing captive-born cheetahs into the wild, and the cheetah’s lack of genetic variation. In 1988 she became the Executive Director of the Centre for New Opportunities in Animal Health Sciences, where continues to serve as a Research Fellow. Dr Marker set up CCF in 1990, moving to Namibia to develop a permanent conservation research center. In 1996 she was made Vice-Chair of the World Conservation Union’s (IUCN) Species Survival Commission’s Cat Specialist Group. Dr Marker is involved with a large number of conservation-related organizations and programs and has received a number of awards for her work, including being selected as one of Time Magazine’s Heroes for the Planet.