Add this to the list of ills

Now, on top of all the other things that global warming is causing, or will cause, we can add this to the list:


Messing with cheetah reproduction, particularly sperm quality

Now, it has long been known that cheetahs never win.  Sorry about that.  It has long been known  that cheetahs suffer from severe inbreeding -- and thus their offspring have a lot of genetic defects.  This is bad for the survival of the species.  Of course, the regular things are happening, i.e., loss of habitat, loss of prey animals, etc.   So wild cheetah populations are crashing.   And one of the reasons is that male cheetahs have twisty sperm.

Risky Agwanda, head of mammology section at NMK, said: "Climate change has contributed to defects of the cheetah sperm. Many have abnormal coils, low sperm counts, as well as extremely low testosterone levels. Change in climate has made the survival of the gazelle difficult to survive and as a result, the cheetah has had to switch to other diets, also affecting its ability to reproduce effectively."

 And why is this related to global warming, you rightly ask?

 "Cheetahs love to prey on Thomson's gazelles, they have a very high protein content compared to other herbivores and the population of the gazelle has been on a rapid decline due to poor climate conditions and human activities.

Can't outrun climate change

"We have studied a large number of the cheetahs. As a result, it preys on other herbivores such as the zebra which do not have a high nutritional content. We discovered that the gazelle diet can actually help maintain the good health of the cheetah sperm if the animal has not yet been negatively affected by poor climate," explained Agwanda.

So that's why.  And if the cheetah isn't charismatic megafauna at its best, I don't know what is.