2016年12月27日，国际著名学术期刊《美国国家科学院院刊》杂志在线发表了英国伦敦动物学会Sarah M. Durant的一篇研究论文，论文报告全球陆地上跑得最快的动物猎豹仅剩约7100只，正迅速接近灭绝的边缘。

研究人员指出，从总体上看，全球猎豹数量趋于下降，估计只剩下约7100只，它们的活动区域也只占历史活动区域的9%。其中，亚洲猎豹受影响最大，目前只有伊朗剩下不到50只，津巴布韦的猎豹也在过去16年里从1200只降至最多170只。

鉴于猎豹数量大幅下降，研究人员呼吁，国际自然保护联合会在其濒危物种红色名录上应把猎豹从“易危”升级至“濒危”。

负责研究的伦敦动物学会的莎拉·杜兰特在一份声明中说，这是迄今对猎豹生存状况“最全面的分析”。

“这种动物生活隐秘，很难收集到它们的确凿信息，导致其困境被忽视，”杜兰特说，“我们的研究结果表明，猎豹对生活空间需求巨大，加上在野外面临复杂威胁，意味着它可能比此前认为的更容易面临灭绝危险。”

原文链接：

The global decline of cheetah Acinonyx jubatus and what it means for conservation

原文摘要：

Establishing and maintaining protected areas (PAs) are key tools for biodiversity conservation. However, this approach is insufficient for many species, particularly those that are wide-ranging and sparse. The cheetahAcinonyx jubatus exemplifies such a species and faces extreme challenges to its survival. Here, we show that the global population is estimated at ∼7,100 individuals and confined to 9% of its historical distributional range. However, the majority of current range (77%) occurs outside of PAs, where the species faces multiple threats. Scenario modeling shows that, where growth rates are suppressed outside PAs, extinction rates increase rapidly as the proportion of population protected declines. Sensitivity analysis shows that growth rates within PAs have to be high if they are to compensate for declines outside. Susceptibility of cheetah to rapid decline is evidenced by recent rapid contraction in range, supporting an uplisting of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List threat assessment to endangered. Our results are applicable to other protection-reliant species, which may be subject to systematic underestimation of threat when there is insufficient information outside PAs. Ultimately, conserving many of these species necessitates a paradigm shift in conservation toward a holistic approach that incentivizes protection and promotes sustainable human–wildlife coexistence across large multiple-use landscapes.

doi: 10.1073/pnas.1611122114

作者：Sarah M. Durant