Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus)- Data, Pictures & Videos

[BorneanTiger]

(01-25-2019, 01:59 PM)Lycaon Wrote: This is the first time seeing living asiatic cheetah in iraq!

Thanks for sharing @BorneanTiger

I also have an image of a skin that was detected in a market in Mazar-i-Shafar, northern Afghanistan. It was alleged to be from the area of Semangan, also in the north of the country: http://www.catsg.org/cheetah/01_informat...nistan.pdf
   

Anyways, I wanted to emphasise, for those who didn't see my comment about this elsewhere, that with regards to their classification of subspecies of cheetahs in 2007, the Cat Specialist Group wasn't fully sure about it (Pages 30−31), like they weren't sure about subspecies of cougars (Pages 32−33), saying that Asiatic and North African cheetahs could be the same subspecies: https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/hand...sAllowed=y

"The most comprehensive phylogeographical study to date was by Charruau et al. (2011). This analysis of mtDNA (NADH5, cytb and control region) and 18 polymorphic nuclear microsatellites revealed a complex star-shaped pattern in the mtDNA haplotype network, with suggestions of geographical partitioning. For example, Asian, Arabian and north African cheetahs tended to group together as did those from north-east Africa, including Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia and Djibouti. However, this was not exclusive. East African cheetahs diverged into two different lineages from those of southern Africa. C. Groves (pers. obs.) found that Saharan cheetahs are probably distinguishable morphologically from their small spots, but that Asian cheetahs did not seem to differ significantly from African cheetahs. Charruau et al. (2011) concluded that the following subspecies can be recognised genetically, although no diagnostic morphological distinctions can be made currently:

Acinonyx jubatus jubatus (Schreber, 1775). Distribution: Southern and eastern Africa.

Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii (Fitzinger, 1855). Distribution: NE Africa.

Acinonyx jubatus venaticus (Griffith, 1821). Distribution: SW Asia and India.

Acinonyx jubatus hecki Hilzheimer, 1913. Distribution: W and N Africa.

However, the divergence times between these lineages are very recent (Charruau et al. 2011), e.g. 32,000-67,000 ya between jubatus and venaticus, and 16,000-72,000 ya between jubatus and soemmeringii, and the inclusion of ancient DNA samples from north Africa and southwest Asia blurred the distinction between north African and Asian cheetahs, suggesting isolation by distance. It is possible that there are only two subspecies of cheetah; northern (venaticus) and southern/ eastern (jubatus), or perhaps none if further more comprehensive sampling of museum specimens is carried out." Reply