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The Mystery of the Dying Cheetahs

sciencenow.sciencemag.org — Version of mad cow disease is decimating captive cheetah populations

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  • Syphon8, on 05/13/2008, -9/+2Mad cheetah disease?
  • CDoug03, on 05/13/2008, -9/+2the cheetos have gone bad
  • charmaniac, on 05/13/2008, -9/+1Someone get rid of Yahzheng. He is spamming links to some communist country I have never heard of...

    Also, sad that cheetahs are dying. They are like, super fast. You know?
  • holzp, on 05/13/2008, -4/+10Cheetahs never win.
  • DoubleYouSee, on 05/13/2008, -4/+6deci·mation n.
    Usage Note: Decimate originally referred to the killing of every tenth person, a punishment used in the Roman army for mutinous legions. Today this meaning is commonly extended to include the killing of any large proportion of a group. Sixty-six percent of the Usage Panel accepts this extension in the sentence The Jewish population of Germany was decimated by the war, even though it is common knowledge that the number of Jews killed was much greater than a tenth of the original population. However, when the meaning is further extended to include large-scale destruction other than killing, as in The supply of fresh produce was decimated by the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, only 26 percent of the Panel accepts the usage.
    • Miff, on 05/13/2008, -1/+1Your face is going to be soooo red when exactly 10% of captive Cheetahs die.
  • noahhoward, on 05/13/2008, -5/+3Obviously global climate change.
  • zohaibusman, on 05/13/2008, -1/+5poor cheetahs.
  • Nanite, on 05/13/2008, -1/+18Didn't RTFA yet, but I've heard cheetahs have a really bad genetic bottleneck from almost being wiped out a few decades ago. The remaining cheetahs all have similar DNA, thus all are susceptible to the same diseases.
    • GreatSunJester, on 05/13/2008, -0/+8Bingo -- there is very little genetic variance in Cheetahs, something catastrophic affecting them is almost inevitable.
    • pixelguru, on 05/13/2008, -0/+9Their DNA isn't just similar, it's almost identical. You can literally take skin off of one cheetah and graft it onto another and it won't be rejected. I heard that they estimated that the population must have once declined to only one or two pairs for this to happen. And yes, it makes the population extremely susceptible to illness since what harms one cheetah will almost certainly harm them all.
      • kasama, on 05/13/2008, -0/+2What about Asian cheetahs? Cross breed them.
    • breezytrees, on 05/13/2008, -0/+4On behalf of fellow cheetah girl diggers everywhere, I wish the cheetah population much luck and cheetah power.
    • VitriolAndAngst, on 05/13/2008, -0/+1To save Cheetah populations, I'm pretty sure genetic engineers are going to have to introduce some genes from other cats -- if they can't find any genetic material from some ancient frozen Cheetah. Modern Cheetahs are almost clones of each other -- so yes, one disease would affect all of them.

      "Mad Cow" is caused by a protein-like structure called a "Prion" -- it is more dangerous than a virus, because it is "just transmitted." If a body find that the Prion is acceptable (from that species), it just retransmits it. These are probably some type of messenger signal. Anyway, there is no immunity to a Prion -- only a signal trigger that can turn them on and off. They are poorly understood.
  • RSS14, on 05/13/2008, -1/+7Cheetor, MAXIMIZE!
    /childhood
  • kraniac, on 05/13/2008, -2/+4Not really a mystery if you know what's killing em, is it?
  • Janizzary, on 05/13/2008, -0/+8Such a sad fate for such a graceful animal.
  • 72DH, on 05/13/2008, -5/+1I need an eye test. I read this as The Mystery of Dying Cheat Sheets.
  • therealkdog, on 05/13/2008, -1/+3I know who did it, Man, and i hope you are happy with what you did. Now go sit in your room for a few thousand years and think about what you did.

  • bcerz811, on 05/13/2008, -0/+2=( aw...i hope we can save them...they're such beautiful animals. not to mention adorable =)
  • itstodd, on 05/13/2008, -2/+1thats really to bad. They made such pretty coats too....
  • mrzack, on 05/13/2008, -4/+2Cheetahs were genetically created by our former Alien masters. Not only were Humans genetically created, but also were Cheetahs, Pandas, and Platypus. Think about it. A Cheetah with head of a cat, body of a greyhound, paws of a dog. Can become sick with dog diseases, and is genetically identical to all other cheetahs. Mother Nature didn't create this *****. Same with Panda. A herbivore bear, who lives in a forest and has only black and white fur. not very good camouflage if u ask me. and the platypus? mouf of a duck, but body of a mammal....
    • VitriolAndAngst, on 05/13/2008, -0/+3Dude, just because you don't understand all the circumstances that lead to a creature -- doesn't mean that some Magical Alien made it happen. It doesn't mean humans weren't "uplifted" but it is kind of useless to look at science that cannot be proven or disproved.

      You may not be aware of how the Platypus came to be like it is -- but it is an ancient species that split off when mammals were evolving from reptiles. There are no more transition animals --- so the Platypus seems unique. One day, someone will find the progenitor to the Platypus and it will be more reptilian.

      A herbivore bear isn't even a stretch. Stomach bacteria are catalysts for most digestion, and animals can adapt based upon a faster evolution of the ecology of these symbiotic organisms. There are carnivorous bears that eat berries. And there are termites that DON'T eat wood -- they mash the wood to pulp and swallow it -- in their stomachs, termites have bacteria that convert the cellulose for them.

      The natural world is complex and amazing. If we look for "magic" answers -- we miss the opportunity to figure these things out. Most everything mysterious is just a puzzle waiting to be solved.
  • clippypog, on 05/13/2008, -2/+0Real mystery: They can't figure out what's happening with the declining tarpon populations.
  • scamper22, on 05/13/2008, -2/+0Cheetahs do tend to suck.
    When you first hear about them, you're all impressed with their speed.

    Then you spend some time watching the discovery channel and see how crappy they are.
    They spend all the energy killing for a meal, then a lazy hyena just comes by and jacks their food.
    Cheetah's can't stand up for themselves.

    Then you find out they be inbreeding and incestous.

    Not only that they can't roar. They chirp and make dog like sounds.

    Now we found out, mad cow disease affects them.

    They got screwed in every way except being fast.
    Darwin is gonna get em eventually.
  • apackofmonkeys, on 05/13/2008, -2/+0Get Al Gore to tell us it's our fault somehow. Nothing ever died until humans came along, you know.
  • Donwangugi, on 05/13/2008, -1/+4This is sort of alarming. How some species are mysteriously dying off, like bees, Indiana bats and now cheetahs. Not a good sign.
    • Patori, on 05/13/2008, -0/+1I think it's just because we started paying attention to it.
  • SevenTwo, on 05/13/2008, -0/+3You can't outrun death.
  • gabrielg01, on 05/14/2008, -0/+1They lock up the fastest running animals in some ***** cages or sheds, and then they wonder why they die. Give' em space!!!!
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