Original subtitles

(adventurous music)

- [Narrator] Africa is still the world's

greatest reserve of biodiversity, with many of

the planet's most awe-inspiring natural habitats.

The tropical forests, the great lakes,

the basins of the great rivers,

the immense valleys, the savannas, the deserts.

Extraordinary ecosystems that are home to

some of the most emblematic species on planet Earth,

and a quarter of the world's species of mammal.

Until recently, the continent was the location

for countless film and television documentaries

that explored the living conditions and behavior

of all these animals in detail.

In many cases, the cameras were able to penetrate

remote and inaccessible areas to reveal

the secret life of wild animals.

But today, not a single corner has been left

unconquered or unaffected by human activity.

The population of almost a billion inhabitants

doubles every 20 years, exerting enormous pressure

on wildlife as competition for land,

fresh water, and food increases.

Africa has 1,200 protected areas,

covering two million square kilometers,

nine percent of the continent's surface area.

These tiny islands of wilderness are under

ever-greater pressure from development

which threatens to reduce them even further.

Outside the reserves, large mammal populations

are plummeting, victims of poaching

or simply unregulated hunting for food.

But most of all, the expansion of agricultural areas

and human settlements, a process

that has reduced wild habitats drastically.

During the 20th century, Africa was a killing ground

for many species due to unregulated hunting

both by locals and Americas and Europeans on safari.

Nothing was done to stop the frenzied race

to gun down any animal and take home its horns,

teeth, skin, or head as a trophy.

(guns firing)

Today, big game hunting is a strictly controlled,

exclusive activity, regulated by governments,

which only allow a limited number of animals

to be killed, to maintain the right balance

between different species on reserves.

But these controls have been imposed too late,

after years of devastation.

Mankind is the principle rival, enemy,

and danger to all other species,

the apex predator of Africa, threatening

the very existence of the great carnivores

of the animal kingdom, the lion,

the leopard, and the cheetah,

which are trapped in a desperate fight for survival.

The big cats survive under the shadow of this threat.

Their reign over the African wilderness is almost over,

and their future looks bleak.

Is this the end of the big cats?

(dramatic music)

The populations of large carnivores in Africa

have declined alarmingly over recent decades.

The relentless destruction of wilderness areas,

the effects of poaching, and the hunting practices

of farmers and herdsmen all increase

the likelihood that lions, leopards, and cheetahs

will soon disappear from most of their

natural habitats, to survive only within

the confines of public and private reserves

as part of controlled breeding programs

that supply the tourist industry.

This has set alarm bells ringing for naturalists

across the world, who have set up urgent campaigns.

- You need the governments of all the other countries

to wake up and quickly preserve some land,

so that the wild cats can start flourishing there,

and then start settling down, but you will have to do that.

Otherwise, just open free roam, no, none.

It will, maybe 10 years and it will be nothing left.

- If population growth continues in the world

over the long run, there won't be space left

for large predators, I think it's,

if we as a human species continue to reproduce

at the rate we are doing, we will not be able to

save enough areas for wildlife.

That is the sad reality.

- The reality of it is, is that if we don't

do something now, we are going to lose them.

- [Narrator] One of the species that has suffered

most persecution is the cheetah.

At the beginning of the last century,

there were more than 100,000 cheetahs

spread over 44 countries in Africa and Asia.

Today, only around 10,000 are estimated to survive

in a score of African countries.

Outside Africa, only a hundred survive in the wild in Iran.

Africa is the true home of the cheetah,

especially Namibia, which has the largest

cheetah population in the world,

a quarter of the total African population.

Some are fortune to live in natural parks,

but the great majority struggle to survive in hiding,

doing their best to remain unnoticed inside ranches

dedicated to rearing livestock.

Believing them to represent a threat to their livestock

operations, during the 80s and 90s, Namibian farmers

killed more than half the cheetah population,

leaving the species on the verge of extinction.

The swift response of consolation organizations

succeeded in putting an end to the slaughter,

and began to rebuild cheetah populations within the country.

Elsewhere, however, the response came too late,

and cheetahs have disappeared completely.

The cheetah, the fastest animal on the planet,

a genetic anomaly that holds a unique place

among the big cats, is condemned

to a desperate race for survival.

(birds chirping and insects buzzing)

Cheetahs are the big cats that face

the most relentless persecution,

not because they are the most dangerous or aggressive,

but because their predatory behavior

makes them practically hated.

Cheetahs will hunt at any time.

While lions or leopards have predictable hunting habits,

cheetahs are far more active and anarchic.

Lions and leopards have larger stomachs than cheetahs,

and tend to catch their prey and then spend

two or three days eating it,

satisfying their hunger for a time.

In contrast, cheetahs eat far less at one sitting.

They prefer fresh meat, and so hunt

more often than other large predators.

According to popular belief, when it makes a kill,

a cheetah drinks the blood of its prey,

takes a few bites, and abandons the remains,

going directly to hunt another.

This makes it an especially frustrating killer,

hated by ranchers.

Given the chance to hunt easy prey,

a cheetah will often kill one animal after another.

Among farmers, its reputation could not be worse.

- They do kill more often.

They tend to also move through areas,

instead of just being, staying in one area

for any length of time.

They obviously do damage.

They could do damage like, for example,

jump into an area or climb into a corral

and kill more than one, they can kill 40 goats at a time.

So they do, but the fear element,

that's the big difference here.

The fear element between the fear the human has

for the cheetah is less, because he's a lightweight,

if you want to put it that way.

Obviously he can hurt you, but generally speaking

they're a little bit more cowardly.

They would run off, and a human is not that afraid of them.

So, if I were to look at human wildlife conflict mitigation,

ways of protecting livestock and getting people

to change their mindset, it's easier for the cheetah,

a little less easier, bit more difficult leopard,

very difficult for hyena and lion.

- [Narrator] The cheetah lacks the strength of the lion,

the lethal agility of the leopard,

or the stamina and iron jaws of the hyena,

and it will rarely attack a human

unless it is attacked first.

A troublesome pest reputed to be a serial killer,

but not particularly feared.

All this makes the cheetah an easy target for irate farmers.

- Cheetah I think are hugely persecuted by farmers

just because of their natural behavior.

They very often hunt a large number of prey species

in a very small amount of time.

They tend naturally not to finish their food.

They like to eat their meat fresh.

They fill their stomachs up as quickly as they can,

and then they will leave a carcass,

and so to a farmer who's losing his livestock,

he's seeing a huge amount of wastage.

- [Narrator] Many farmers have no qualms

about hunting cheetahs, poisoning them, or shooting them.

Conservation organizations like Africat

have mobilized to stop the killing.

- And here we have some terrible traps.

I mean, this is the classic gin trap.

Whether it's a small one for a jackal,

or a big one for maybe a leopard,

and a lion's are even bigger, is you basically

tie it to a big tree or wherever you can anchor it,

you set it like this, close to the meat,

so there is it's closed, so you set it,

you open it up next to the meat,

and when the animal actually comes to eat this meat,

they trap in it, and they get caught.

The biggest problem is, like for instance this cheetah,

the toe was cut off, so the toe came off,

and it survived, but it actually died of hunger long term.

It even healed, because he couldn't catch food so well.

This one, you want to see,

this is a very typical one, hand made.

You connect it with a mouse trap,

simple mouse trap to a string, the meat.

You put a shotgun bullet in there.

The animals pulls the meat, and it sets it off,

and the shotgun bullet goes out

and blows the animal, and sometimes misses him

and also wounds him, and now you've got again

an aggressive animal.

- [Narrator] The Africat foundation,

one of the best established conservation groups

in Namibia runs a small clinic and lab

where wounded animals can be treated.

- We have a health check, where the teeth

and the general health of the animals

in captivity are done here.

This belongs to the vets that help Africat.

This is where they will basically come

and try and deal with an emergency,

like a broken leg or an emergency,

or a general health check, is done in this little clinic.

So it's a very small clinic, it's a very basic clinic.

It's got the basic stuff, it's a clean place,

it's where vets can really work.

Most of this radio collaring is done

pretty much in the bush, but the animal

is darted very simply.

Quickly, not, no deep dark drugs that will

keep them sleeping forever,

so that you can get these collars on.

Collars are obviously very expensive,

some more than others.

Cell phone collars, satellite collars,

much more expensive.

- [Narrator] A significant proportion of the budget

of these organizations is spent on radio collars.

Not only are they used to monitor

the rescued animal's movements,

they also help to avoid further conflict with farmers,

who can identify the cheetah as a protected animal.

The practice of fitting problematic animals,

especially large predators, with collars

is spreading to public and private reserves

all over the continent.

The collar is a monitoring device,

and also an effective means for biologists

to identify individuals.

Until recently, the collars were fitted

with a simple VHF transmitter,

which made it possible to pick up a signal

within a radius of five kilometers.

Today they may incorporate satellite GPS,

so the animals whereabouts can be tracked by computer.

They are not cheap.

Each costs in the region of $4,000.

- So basically to start at the very beginning

with a collar, that's the type of collar

we're looking at with that program.

And they have what is called a VHF unit,

which is used to localize the animal in the field,

where you take out an antenna and a receiver

to be able to find that animal on the ground.

On the back side, you have the GPS unit.

So every collar has this GPS unit which

at a preset schedule communicates with the satellites.

For us, we do that on the daily basis

so that we can locate pretty much every released animal

on any given day, that we can follow them closely

to see do they go into hostile farmland,

do they stay on nature reserves,

what precisely do they do, as you said,

monitoring the activity as good as we can.

And most of the downloads are here in Namibia

where the animal is.

And then you'll see the whole path

that that animal covered since we've released it.

And that's one of the fantastic things about the collars

that you would find very hard to follow

that animal on the ground, to document

that type of behavior, whereas the collar gives you

those data pretty much automatically.

That's the area around, just north of Sassusvlei,

the Nabid Desert, red sand dunes, and here would be

the Naukluft Mountains on the western side,

on the eastern side, sorry.

And as you zoom in to the actual area he's using,

we have all these red dots, which are

the individual locations of the animal.

You have the red lines connecting it to see

what path has it actually moved,

which direction is it taking at the moment.

Very nice is that it shows you in very much detail

to what type of habitat do they actually go.

For example here, you can see that the red dots

are right in the sand dunes, which seems a bit

untypical for a cheetah, but the collars have shown

that cheetahs regularly do that.

They are well able to use true desert environments,

as long as there's prey and water for them.

- [Narrator] Surprisingly, the satellite shows

that the cheetah has entered the Naukluft Park,

an arid region that makes a demanding habitat

for a predator, but where it's been able to settle,

thanks to the absence of competition.

A second cheetah has been released close to the first,

to find out whether this case can be replicated.

In order to track it via satellite,

the second cheetah's radio collar

must be changed for a GPS collar.

Matt and Kate are the biologists in charge

of combing the area to find the animal

and change her collar.

- I mean, cheetahs can walk anywhere from

10 kilometers a day to sometimes they'll walk

almost a hundred kilometers.

It all depends on how comfortable they are in the area,

if there's water, if there's a good food source,

if there's game herds for them to follow.

(adventurous music)

(birds chattering)

- [Narrator] Life here is never easy,

not even for the birds, which gather

in a huge communal nest in a lone tree.

Kate suspects that we'll find the cheetah

under the shade of the last tree before the dunes.

- We think possibly maybe she's made a kill,

and she's keeping it in the bush,

because we've actually seen cheetahs

will take a carcass into a bush, kick dirt over top of it,

and actually feed off of it for a couple of days

if it's a very big meal.

So as long as she's not chased off of her carcass,

she'll stay on it for a couple of days,

and eat everything until it's all gone.

So possibly that's why she's here.

Otherwise, just maybe she really likes this tree.

- [Man] Okay, let's to go see it.

- So actually if we go this side,

we'll have a little bit of a better view.

- We don't want to scare her, because then

when we come out (indistinct)

she's not here then (indistinct) not good.

- [Narrator] At last we find her,

in the shade of a large acacia.

She seems relaxed.

Our presence does not bother her.

She has no idea that within half an hour,

the Na'ankuse vets will arrive to fire a dart into her,

immobilize her, and change her collar for one with GPS.

Rudie Van Vuuren, Director General of Na'ankuse,

will shoot the dart, which must deliver

a correct dose of the drug to avoid unwanted side effects.

- We now, we're going to immobilize her,

and the previous time that I immobilized this cheetah,

the dose wasn't high enough, I underestimated her weight.

So this time I'm going to give a little big higher dose,

'cause we have only one shot.

If we miss, we have trouble.

So we can't miss today.

(stone thunks)

Great, great.

(dart gun fires)

Okay, perfect, absolutely perfect.

- [Narrator] After being hit by the dart,

the cheetah begins to feel the effects.

Rudie and Kate wait for a few minutes

to ensure that the animal is completely immobilized,

so they can safely approach her

and replace the old collar with a new one.

From now on, her every movement will be tracked

by satellite and logged onto the computer.

(indistinct talking)

Once the GPS collar is fitted, it's time to wake her up.

Doctor Van Vuuren administers another injection,

but this time to bring her round.

The stunned cheetah, her eyes glazed, is a pitiful sight.

The effects of the drugs will gradually wear off,

but there's always a concern that

the tranquilizer can have adverse affects,

as has occurred with other cheetahs,

some of which have even died due to

unexpected negative reactions.

The biologists stay close by to make sure all is well.

Seeing her like this, we're reminded of her vulnerability.

Cheetahs are wild animals with extraordinary

physical capacities, but this is no defense

against the threat we pose to them.

30 years ago, the savanna was a haven for wildlife

ruled by the big cats.

Some cheetahs have been reintroduced,

but it's too soon to say whether this has been a success.

Sooner or later, urban settlements will cover this area.

It will mean the end of the big cats

in this tiny corner of Africa.

(cheetah purring)

Despite the myths and legends that paint the cheetah

as a serial killer of sheep, goats, and camels,

it is far more docile and gentle

than the leopard or the lion.

This cheetah is habituated by the presence of humans.

It purrs loudly and rubs itself

as a sign of its affection and trust.

If there is one big cat that can really behave

like a domestic cat or a dog, it is the cheetah.

But allowing it to become tame

may not be in its best interests.

Although they adapt well to captivity,

they need to live and hunt in freedom

if they're to keep their animal instincts

and their personality alive.

- I would say cheetahs are cowards.

They're very gentle, they have the personalities of dogs,

and that counts against them in every situation

because people will domesticate them,

they become a beautiful pet.

You take them out of the wild.

They will never be able to go back.

And also they accept captivity.

Give them two to three weeks, they immediately snap, okay,

it's fine in here as long as like a five-star hotel,

I get food and I'm in captivity, I don't have predators.

Well, you don't want that from cats.

(cheetah purring)

- [Narrator] They can be tamed and domesticated,

but a wild animal's behavior is never entirely predictable,

even to someone who has cared for it since it was young,

and is able to read its facial expression and posture.

Any action, an unexpected caress or playful blow,

can be interpreted in a way

that we would never have expected.

All felines, big or small,

retain the distinctive traits of wild animals.

The caracal is a feline that grows

to between 60 and 90 centimeters in length,

and lives in savannas and arid regions of Africa,

the Arabian Peninsula, and Asia.

It is easily by its tufted black ears

and its constant state of alertness and mobility.

(caracal hisses)

It is a spectacularly successful hunter

of birds, hares, and other rodents,

using its exceptional agility to catch its prey.

It is probably the wild cat

that most resembles a domestic one.

In fact, in antiquity, Egyptians and Persians

trained caracals to hunt small game,

but it never lost its taste for freedom.

The caracal has also been the victim of intense persecution,

and it's more and more common to find them

in sanctuaries or reserves, where they're protected

from being shot or poisoned.

There is no trait more characteristics of felines

than the desire for freedom,

and they can be very aggressive in the pursuit of it.

(caracal hisses and growls)

(lion growls)

Among the big cats, lion's behavior

is the easiest to interpret.

If they're irritated, they retreat,

squatting on their haunches in an awkward position.

Their tail begins to swish, their ears are pulled back,

and their intense gaze warns of imminent danger.

(lion growls)

In these circumstances, you're advised to make a quick exit.

Leopards are more unpredictable,

but a prolonged stare is always a sign of danger.

You should never turn your back on it,

never stand underneath it, never approach it,

instead letting it approach you,

and never enter its territory.

If you do any of these things,

you're putting yourself in danger.

A leopard may attack without warning,

especially if it feels uncomfortable or stressed.

In contrast, a cheetah's body language is clearer

and easier to understand.

If it avoids looking at you directly

and appears to ignore you, it is at its most relaxed.

If it also produces a continuous purring sound,

it feels perfectly comfortable.

(cheetah purring)

When it gets annoyed, the fur on the back of its neck

stands on end, and it will squat on its haunches

with its forelegs extended, showing its teeth,

and snorting as warning.

(cheetah snorts)

(cheetah snorts)

Felines are particular sensitive to the emotions

of anyone approaching them.

(cheetah snorts)

If you're calm and approach a cheetah

with a relaxed friendly attitude, even talking to it,

it will respond positively.

If you appear nervous, it will react

aggressively or in fear.

(cheetah snorts)

A cheetah can be just as dangerous in captivity

when its become used to contact with humans,

even if its been treated kindly,

and never shows signs of aggression.

Even at play, it can do

a lot of damage with its sharp claws.

- Cheetahs who have non-retractable claws,

even if they just want to play with you

in direct contact, a wrong move,

and the non-retractable claws will do injury.

So it's always a very thin line

maintaining large predators in captivity.

I do see that there is a necessity to have

certain ambassador animals in captivity,

if they are very well managed.

If there is security measures in place,

if there's protocols in place,

and if there is experience there to deal with those animals.

(birds chattering)

The Okonjima Reserve, more than 20,000 hectares

of wilderness reclaimed from livestock farming.

This is the headquarters of the Africat Foundation,

which has rescued more than a thousand carnivores

since 1993, among them 700 cheetahs.

Andre Rousseau takes us to visit the cheetahs of Okonjima.

- She came from, she was an orphan,

her mother was shot on a farm, and she came

with her brother when they were babies.

So they were raised by people,

so they have no fear of people whatsoever.

The only thing you break is that

she doesn't associate people with food.

So even she doesn't see people as a threat,

but she also doesn't see them as a source of food.

Because otherwise if she saw people as a source of food,

if you come here, she will come up to you looking for food.

So this is just, she allows you to get close to her,

but she doesn't come and look for food,

which is a nice thing.

She can never relax.

She always needs to be alert,

what's going around.

If he kills a cheetah, it's more food for him, so ...

- [Narrator] To our surprise,

the cheetah ignores us completely.

Whenever we get closer, it moves further away,

asserting its right to be alone.

We decide to look for more cheetahs.

- No, no cheetah.

They're all baboons.

- [Narrator] The baboons don't take long to appear.

This is a large troop that moves en masse

to protect itself from big cat attacks.

The leopards and cheetahs in the vicinity

are certainly aware of them,

following at a short distance,

and waiting for one member of the family to drop its guard

or become distracted and so become an easy target.

Only 200 meters away, we find three cheetahs,

acting as nonchalantly as possible.

There are two males and one female.

Cheetahs often join forces to hunt.

They don't seem happy to see us, and they soon leave.

We may have spoiled their chances of catching a baboon.

The dominant male has warned his companions

that with these humans in the way,

they stand a better chance elsewhere.

We follow them for a couple of hours,

and watch as they explore the territory

in search of signs of prey.

From time to time, they spread out and regroup,

checking each other's position

and the distance separating them,

always on the lookout, sniffing and probing vegetation

and tracks, looking for a fresh trail.

(calm music)

Suddenly, we lose sign of all three.

A few minutes later, they appear at the top of a small hill,

from where they can scan the surrounding area.

(calm music)

Once again, the dominant male makes the first move,

leading the others to continue the search.

(birds calling)

They make their way to a water hole,

but there is no prey here, either.

The recent rains mean that zebras and gazelles

come here to drink less often.

Not far away are a few ducks that would make a great meal.

But it's time for a siesta,

with a few sidelong glances at the ducks.

Perhaps one will be foolish enough to get a little closer.

The cheetahs need to watch their own backs, too.

A leopard, perfectly camouflaged among the grass

surveys the scene, waiting to see

whose attention wanders first.

The leopard will not tolerate competition from the cheetahs,

and sooner or later will try to eliminate them.

(ducks quacking)

Big cats are also protected by conservation societies,

like the Na'ankuse Foundation,

which has a wildlife sanctuary in central Namibia.

The team at Na'ankuse includes biologists

and volunteers from all over the world,

working for the survival of orphaned or wounded animals,

victims of a constant conflict between big cats and humans.

This cub was found lost in the bush.

His mother and siblings were shot,

and only he escaped the massacre.

The experience has marked him deeply.

He would soon have died if he had not been rescued in time.

For the moment, he lives in a small enclosure

of 800 square meters, learning to adapt,

albeit with difficulty, to life in captivity.

- I'd say, I don't think we have in Namibia, no.

- [Narrator] The biologist Florian Wiese

for the time being living in captivity

is not a bad solution for the little cheetah.

- The question is how you handle predators in captivity.

It starts with the size of enclose you provide them.

The larger the enclosure, obviously, the less contact

you will have with that predator,

because they're naturally avoiding human contact.

For ambassador animals that are orphaned, for example,

or injured, human contact is often maintained

to keep them in a tame or semi-tame state.

And that will reduce stress, because the animal

will get habituated to that type of contact.

And in cases for releasable animals,

you want to minimize human contact,

to a point where you don't actually

have any contact with that animal.

You want to provide them with the largest possible

area in captivity so they can still exercise

their ecology as much as possible,

although in a limited area, but also to not get

habituated and to not experience stress.

- [Narrator] Looking ahead, his future

will take one of two possible paths,

to live in captivity, or to be reintroduced into the wild.

The best outcome would be a return to the wild,

but this could also be dangerous.

Without preparation, family, or companions,

he might die of hunger, become easy prey

for a leopard, or be shot by a hunter.

- If animals come into captivity,

they're either injured, orphaned, or die too old.

So you have a problem that this animal

will not survive in the wild.

In that situation, we'll put them in captivity,

and that animal will stay in captivity

for the rest of their life.

Those animals we will then use for forming,

for tours, for people to see them,

for educations at farm, farmer get togethers,

just to educate people.

But the main objective is trying rather

put them back as soon as you can,

because if you keep them in the captivity too long,

you overstep a line of, are they still scared of people?

Remember, we are the biggest threat for them,

so if they're not scared of us, somewhere down the line

they're going to get shot, because somebody will think

this animal's got rabies or it's going to catch my cattle

or my sheep or my goats, and this animal will be killed.

- [Narrator] Sometimes, to set an orphaned animal

free too soon is to sign its death warrant,

so life in captivity under the right conditions

can be the best option if it is to survive.

- [Stuart] She's 14 years old.

- [Man] Really?

- [Narrator] Biologist Stuart Monroe shows us

a 14-year-old cheetah that has spent

many years in captivity and has an especially docile nature.

Stuart feels a real sense of admiration for the cheetah,

as did the ancient Egyptians, who managed to train them

almost as if they were dogs.

- So as far back as probably four or 500 BC,

these cats were actually being tamed.

And this could be a part of their downfall,

because they're so easily tamed.

They're also bred for specific color patterns

which reduces the genetic variability.

But the problem is the cheetah's genetics

are at a critical point now,

because about 10,000 years ago, at the last ice age,

all the other species in the genus Acinonyx

that the cheetah belongs to were wiped out.

The cheetah was the only one of that genus

that actually survived, 'cause all the other cats

are part of the Panthera genus.

The lion is Panthera leo, the leopard is Panthera pardus.

But these are not part of that cat family.

They're a separate genetic line.

These are Acinonyx jubatus.

They're different, physically and morphologically as well.

The claws do not fully retract, like all the other cats.

All the other cats, even your domestic cat,

has a little white sheath inside

that the claw retracts into, but these guys don't have that.

That also helps them with their running.

These are the fastest land animal on the planet,

reaching speeds of over 100 kilometers an hour,

and they will reach that in less than three seconds

from a standing start.

And their spine is hyper-flexible in both directions.

When it's running, it'll plant its front feet,

and the back feet will actually go beyond the front feet,

and the spine will be curved like that.

There are other morphological traits that

actually put them closer to dogs than cats.

There's various internal differences

in the structure of the nose

and some of the internal organs

that puts them quite close to dogs.

So some people, although I'm not one of them,

say that these are not true cats,

that they're somewhere in between the true cat and the dog.

But they are cats.

They're just highly, highly adapted

and highly evolved to what they do.

They're built for speed, not power, not strength.

They're designed to run fast and that's it.

They're streamlined.

If you look at the tail, it's actually

flattened along its length, and the tail acts

as a rudder while they're running and turning,

so for those high-speed turns

the tail actually helps them turn to follow the game.

(adventurous music)

- [Narrator] Cheetahs are extraordinary creatures,

but biological research shows that 10,000 years ago

they almost became extinct, probably due to competition

with other, more powerful predators, or an epidemic.

The species was saved thanks to a small group of survivors.

This is why all cheetahs can be traced back

to a single genetic line.

It is worrying to think that a second

and final extinction event could be caused by humans,

the cheetah's new predator.

There are still landscapes in Africa

where the romantic adventurous history

of the continent has been preserved.

Wildlife has an enormous potential

to attract visitors and generate income for local people.

Many small farms that once subsisted

as livestock ranches have been converted

into guest houses for tourists

who are drawn as much by the landscape as the wildlife.

This has helped to prove the value of wild animals,

including predators, as tourists

are always keen to photograph them.

The Na'ankuse Foundation has established

agreements with farmers to create

sanctuaries open to tourists,

where rescued big cats are rehabilitated,

an initiative that brings benefits to all.

One of these sanctuaries is home to a cheetah

famous for having killed 30 head of livestock

in only three years.

He's a large male with a highly developed hunting instinct

who was the terror of local farms before he was taken alive.

He's been named Spartacus, after the legendary gladiator.

Matt Cleverley takes a group of visitors

to see the notorious Spartacus

and the other three cheetahs housed at the sanctuary.

The grounds spread over more than 5,000 hectares,

surrounded by a security fence.

Spartacus has eaten all the springboks

that once populated the area, and Matt jokes

that he'll have to import more

so that Spartacus can get some exercise.

- They're getting a little lazy, the springbok,

they need some more predators over there.

When we get a cat that we want to release

into the wild, we introduce it here first.

It's called a soft release, and what that does

is it allows the animal a chance to adapt

to this environment before we release it into the wild.

It's just like when you buy a little fish.

You don't put it in the tank, you put it in a little bag,

and you allow it to adapt,

before you release it into the tank.

And so we're going the same thing here.

With other species like leopard,

they're very hardy animals, you don't need to do this.

But with cheetahs we found that there was

more successful releases when we introduced them

into this beaumont before releasing them.

It's an amazing job, I love this.

This is called radio telemetry,

with my radio and my receiver,

and I'm going to see where Spartacus is.

He's one of our more aggressive cats.

You hear that beep?

So Spartacus is quite close.

He's very close.

Spartacus.

So you can see he's a very slim animal.

That's how these guys are built.

But Spartacus is especially big.

You'll notice he's got a very large head.

Now he'll calm down if I don't move,

and he'll lay back down.

But you can see he's got his tail tucked under

like an angry dog.

- [Narrator] Up close, he's an impressive sight.

He's huge, covered in muscles,

and weighs more than 90 kilos.

- As you can see, he's very healthy.

The neighboring farmer, and he's killed over 25 calves.

Just stay close together.

- [Narrator] Most tourists who come to Africa

are aware that wildlife numbers are falling,

that there are fewer elephants, lions,

leopards, and cheetahs, and they believe

African governments should take urgent action to save them,

but there is only one way forward,

to set up sanctuaries and reserves

that are financed by tourism.

Safaris generate income for local people,

and also help protect the animals.

Outside reserves and parks, wildlife is in peril.

(adventurous music)

(wild dogs barking)

For wild dogs, leopards, cheetahs, and lions,

the future looks even more uncertain.

Over the last century, the pressures exerted

by humans on big cats have been huge, even cruel.

Wildlife seem to be an inexhaustible natural resource,

one whose value is unappreciated.

It seems incomprehensible to us today

that people killed big cats out of fear or ignorance.

Now there is far more awareness, both locally and globally,

of the value of nature, and efforts are underway

to mitigate the eternal conflict

between wild predators and humans.

The cheetah is a symbol of this awareness,

because its very existence is a lucky accident of evolution.

To lose the cheetah will be a tragedy.

It should continue its race for survival.

(adventurous music)

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