Allomothering
“Allomatural infant care/handling, or non-maternal infant care/handling is alloparenting performed by any group member other than the mother or genetic father and thus is distinguished from parental care. It is a widespread phenomenon among mammals and birds.” Our cheetahs have been doing exceptionally well in terms of breeding. Currently, our Rietvlei female, and her daughter […]
Camera Traps & Conservation
Camera traps plays a cardinal role when it comes to monitoring wildlife. It becomes your eyes where your eyes cannot be. It makes it possible to observe animals with minimal to no disruption. They do not even know they are being filmed or photographed… Camera traps are a recognized scientific tool used for identification and […]
Cheetah Translocation – Amakhosi Safari Lodge
In May 2020 we received a 17 month old male cheetah from Amakhosi Safari Lodge in KZN as part of the EWT cheetah metapopulation programme. The arrangement was a swap transaction, they gave us a male and we will return a male to them when the animal was ready, in terms of age, to be […]
Predator Interaction – Mortality
Over the last couple of years we had so many positive news to share regarding our conservation efforts related to cheetahs. Especially our females were exceptionally successful raising large litters.Today we have to share sad news, we found our Gondwana male dead. On Saturday 13/02/2021 we checked up on the Gondwana cheetah male which showed […]
Predator conflict
The DGR is well known as a Big Five Reserve, i.e. lions, elephants, buffalo, leopard and rhino (black and white) roam freely in the reserve, where nature must be allowed to take its course. This is a sad story that will illustrate the challenges and the unexpected turn of events that are part and parcel […]
Hyenas – Persistence Pays
Our game reserve is blessed being home of the rarest hyena species, the brown hyena (Hyena brunnes). But for a long time a typical night sound for an environment like ours was missing: the laughing of the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta). Our spotted hyena project to settle spotted hyena has been an ongoing challenge with […]
Lion Management
Free roaming lions and the term lion management may seem to be a contradiction. At Dinokeng Game Reserve we host free roaming lions – they have to fend for themselves – but still we have to implement formal lion management, as any smaller game reserve. Indeed there are only two game reserves in South Africa […]
The grand – not so grand – life of the king of all beasts
We could be forgiven for the widely held perception of the grand life of a dominant male lion; Hold back and let the females do the hard work (hunting) and simply taking prime spot on the feast when it’s ready. After a really good feed, do what lions do best: lying (and sleeping). And when […]
EWT Cheetah Metapopulation Project
Cheetah have disappeared from 76% of their historic geographical area in Africa and from virtually all their vast historic areas in Asia. The human population has continued to grow exponentially for the past 13,000 years. Problems began for the Cheetah and other wild cats with the transformation from humans being hunter/gatherers to becoming settlers who […]
Bold or Stupid?
Today, November 21st 2018 we received a call from a guide in the Pilanesberg NP. He was excited about a sighting he witnessed with the two cheetah males that came from the DGR less than a month ago. He saw them taking down a blue wildebeest. While this was something special already – usually cheetahs […]
