The Sahara cheetah was first discovered in a decade in Algeria

With fewer than 250 individuals left in the world, the Sahara cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus hecki) is one of the rarest carnivores on our planet .

This cheetah lives in Northern and West Africa. However, the 'shortage' of suitable prey due to poaching has contributed to the critically endangered species and they are now included in the IUCN Red List.

Besides, the rarity of this cheetah is because the last time they were discovered also fell almost a decade ago. But until recently they were seen in the Ahaggar Mountains, Tamanrasset, southern Algeria.

Picture 1 of The Sahara cheetah was first discovered in a decade in Algeria
One of the rare images of the Sahara cheetah was recorded.

Researchers have captured images of this elusive cheetah. To collect those extremely rare images, the scientists took 120 days and mobilized 40 continuous working cameras, creating a new database with more than 230,000 photos under study.

Some footage including a video of a Sahara cheetah climbing a tree in Ahaggar Cultural Park was on one of its research missions in March 2020. This work, along with other research missions to The discovery of cheetahs in 2017 and 2019, is part of helping to better monitor and conserve biodiversity issues in Algerian cultural parks .

Sahara cheetahs are distributed throughout Africa but mainly in northern Africa, the Sahel region is the border between the Sahara in the north and the vast grasslands in the south and a small number in Iran. The species has been declared extinct in at least 13 countries and has lost up to 90% of its original habitat.

Many researchers hope that conservation efforts will prevent extinct cheetahs, the fate that some other species living in the Algerian desert such as African horn antelope and desert antelope have had to accept.