276 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



the species its best chance of survival in countries that continue to 

 be opened up to settlement and cultivation. 

 Cheetahs make charming pets, and may be led about on a leash. 



South African Cheetah 



ACINONYX JUBATUS JUBATus (Schreber) 



Felis jubata Schreber, Saugethiere, vol. 3, pi. 105, 1776; p. 392, 1777. (Cape 



of Good Hope, South Africa.) 

 SYNONYMS: Felis lanea P. L. Sclater (1877); lAcinonyx guttatus obergi 



Hilzheimer (1913). 

 FIGS.: Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1877, pi. 35 (incipient albinism); Hilzheimer, 



1913, p. 289, fig. 2 (A. j. obergi) 1 



The South African Cheetah has virtually disappeared from the 

 Cape Province. Elsewhere in its huge range it has managed to sur- 

 vive in varying numbers, but in general it is obliged to retreat before 

 settlement. 



The general color is ochraceous-yellow, covered with round black 

 spots; below almost white, with longer hair and indistinct spots; a 

 black line from the anterior angle of the eye to the edge of the lip ; 

 ear with a black patch posteriorly and a tawny tip; chin white, 

 unspotted; chest whitish, spotted; spots on the tail tending to form 

 6-8 imperfect rings toward the tip. (W. L. Sclater, 1900, p. 47.) 

 Total length, about 6 feet 8 inches; tail, about 2 feet 6 inches; 

 shoulder height, about 2 feet 8 inches. 



All Cheetahs (except A. rex Pocock) occurring from the Cape 

 Province north to Angola, Belgian Congo, Northern Rhodesia, and 

 Nyasaland will be included provisionally under the present sub- 

 species. This range corresponds roughly to the Southwest Arid 

 District, the Southeast Veld District, and the Rhodesian Highland 

 District of Chapin (1932, p. 90), or to the Southeast Veldt District, 

 the Kalahari and the Damara Arid Districts, and the Rhodesian Sa- 

 vanna District of Bowen (1933, pp. 256, 259-260) . 



"In the [Cape] Colony it is found sparingly in the western and 

 midland districts : north of the Orange River it is common in German 

 territory [South-West Africa], the Kalahari and Bechuanaland, and 

 exists in Rhodesia, the Transvaal, Zululand and Natal, though now 

 very rare in the latter Colony, and found only in the Drakensberg 

 range" (W. L. Sclater, 1900, p. 48) . 



In South-West Africa the Cheetah is widely distributed. It is 

 considered quite plentiful in the eastern sand-veld region, scarce 

 in the Kaokoveld, sparsely distributed in the Caprivi, and not un- 

 common in the Namutoni Game Reserve. It is recorded from various 



i The following additional figures of Cheetahs are of undetermined subspecific 

 identity: Wolf, 1861, pi. 13; Lavauden, 1924, p. 10, fig.; Leplae, 1925, p. 46, 

 fig.; Malbrant, 1936, pi. 1, upper fig. 



