ORDER CARNIVORA: CARNIVORES 275 



Economics and conservation. "The Cheetah has been for cen- 

 turies the playing thing of princes, Asiatic, African and European. 

 When taken young it is easily tamed and trained to show its won- 

 derful speed. A couple of cheetahs were sent as a present to Ana- 

 stasius, Emperor of the East, at Constantinople in A. D. 439 from 

 whence the sport reached Italy and obtained an enormous vogue 

 among the wealthy, extravagant grandees of the great City States. 

 The Turks, Moors and Persians alike used cheetahs in hunting. In 

 India the Cheetah is usually taken blind-folded in a cart to the 

 scene of the hunt. In the proximity of a herd of antelope it is un- 

 hooded and slipped from its leash: a short crouching stalk and a 

 few bounds of great length and rapidity and the hunt is over 

 the quarry has escaped or the Cheetah holds it in a strangle-hold 

 by the throat, till the keeper comes up and having cut the captive's 

 throat rewards the captor with a drink of warm blood collected in 

 its accustomed feeding bowl." (Anonymous, 1935, pp. 148-149.) 



(For an interesting account of hunting with Cheetahs in the 

 Middle Ages, see Yule's Marco Polo, ed. 3, vol. 1, pp. 397-398, 

 1903.) 



"So far as I have heard, . . . this animal has not been known to 

 breed in captivity" (Blanford, 1888, p. 93) . 



Probably the disappearance of the Cheetah in the Cape Province 

 and its decrease in North Africa and in Asia are closely linked with 

 the general decline in those regions of the various antelopes which 

 constitute its principal prey. It also attacks calves, sheep, and goats 

 to some extent, and thereby comes into conflict with man. However, 

 "there are very few recorded cases of cheetah attacking human be- 

 ings or taking the offensive, even when wounded or in defence of 

 their cubs" (Shortridge, 1934, p. 107) . Like all of the larger carni- 

 vores, it is evidently shot "on general principles." According to 

 Shortridge (1934, p. 107), it retreats more rapidly than the Leopard 

 before European settlement. 



In Northern Rhodesia "Cheetah and other animals take their toll 

 of the vast numbers of Black Lechwe, but these natural enemies do 

 more good than harm" (David Ross, in litt., May 3, 1933) . 



Fortunately the Cheetah is reported present in a considerable 

 number of the African game reserves: White Nile Reserve and one 

 near the Ethiopian border in the Sudan; reserve between the Gash 

 and Setit Rivers in Eritrea; Northern and Southern Reserves in 

 Kenya; Katavi, Mtandu, Lake Natron, Ngorongoro, Northern Rail- 

 way, Saba, Selous, and Serengeti Reserves in Tanganyika; Matupo 

 Reserve in Mozambique; Kruger National Park in Transvaal; 

 Bechuanaland Reserve in Bechuanaland Protectorate; and Namu- 

 toni Reserve in South- West Africa. Such reserves doubtless afford 



