The first coordinated, multi-year census of South Africa’s free-roaming cheetah population combined camera-trapping, genetic sampling, farmer interviews, and GPS collaring across nearly 100,000 km² of working farmland. The results were striking: only 83 adult cheetahs were confirmed — a fraction of prior estimates — while DNA analysis of scat samples found no livestock whatsoever in cheetah diets, despite the species frequently being blamed for predation losses. The findings offer farmers and land managers evidence-based clarity on a long-standing conflict question, while also raising the case for updated national population counts, revised range mapping, and stronger cross-border coordination to protect one of Africa’s most fragmented remaining cheetah populations.
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