Looking for Cheetah Signs

Yesterday we went out on some ranchlands that are a part of our study area with a cheetah scout to search for any signs of cheetahs. Erica is another Master's student from the U.S. and she is doing a project with camera traps. We are trying to figure out the best place to place her camera traps to ensure some cheetah action!

Looking for tracks in the mud.

Erica is using different types of lures to get cheetahs to come to the camera traps. The most interesting being a cologne that previous zoo studies have shown to be a favorite of cheetahs (they have expensive taste). She's testing a variety of different lures to attract cheetahs. I'm hoping they ALL work so we have a lot of pooping cheetahs around. Finding scat is going to be very difficult, especially for those who are searching without a dog!

We searched a bunch of different places yesterday without any sign of cheetahs. I was beginning to get discouraged. How the hell am I supposed to find cheetah shit in this HUGE area!?!?! Not to mention we got the run down on what to do when you come across a charging water buffalo. Awesome. In case you are wondering the best solution is to climb a sturdy tree, fast. If there are no trees lay as flat as possible on the ground (they have shitty eyesight) and hope like hell that they don't trample you to death. A few broken ribs > death by being gored. Yay. So we were walking around and I was going between being paranoid of baboons, to looking for cheetah poop, thinking I hear buffalo in the bushes, and searching for the best climbing tree. It was exhausting.

While searching I also came across this huge chunk of millipede. Kind of awesome, but terrifying to think of what it looked like when it was alive.

Finally at the last place we stopped on one of the ranches we found a plethora of different species tracks.

Serval print in the upper right (sorry I had nothing to scale it with).

Genet cat. So tiny and adorable!

After numerous small felid species, dog, and many many cow tracks we found...

A cheetah track!

All hope was not lost! Hooray! I have to get better at identifying tracks... it's really hard in such thick mud. It was great to end on a positive note. After that we went back to camp and massive thunderstorms rolled in as I attempted to do laundry in the rain. I gave up and retired inside the kitchen to a cup of Cosmas' kick ass chai. All in all, not a bad day :)