Are all the cheetahs you have seen blind?

It's ... dazzling. The number and protection of cheetahs are facing many well-known challenges, such as the loss of agricultural and pasture habitats, the shooting of farmers and herders, the forced overlap of predators, genetic bottlenecks and poaching ... Another very strange reason for the decline of cheetahs is their blindness. The area of Namibia is getting bigger and bigger, and the local population is beginning to decrease rapidly. No one can really figure out what the problem is. Finally, the researchers found that an invasive shrub-Robinia pseudoacacia (or Acacia nigricans)-was introduced into the area and spread, affecting the local cheetahs. There are many large and dangerous shrubs, which are harmful to cheetahs.

These thorny bushes have begun to cover a large area of cheetah territory. Their branches are very low and their thorns are as high as cheetahs. It has been proved that when cats chase prey on the spiny savanna, what do they use to tickle or pierce their eyes? Many cheetahs are injured in which part of their eyes. When they chase their prey, they move so fast and concentrate on it that they don't notice the danger posed by these thorns. A cheetah without sight may be sentenced to death for hunger. As we know, the forward-looking eye provides binocular vision, so it has depth perception. For cheetahs without depth perception, the impact is obvious.

This growing problem also exists in Kenya, 2000 miles northeast of Namibia. Similarly, due to overgrazing and the spread of another species of acacia, this invasive plant native to South Africa is causing serious damage in Kenya. Acacia trees spread rapidly in areas where overgrazing leads to high soil degradation, and have no feed value for livestock and wild animals. To make matters worse, Acacia will release a chemical substance to replace other species, and further destroy the pasture by inhibiting the growth of pasture (the preferred feed for livestock and the traditional hunting range of cheetahs).

As more and more forests are cut down, the pastures on which livestock depend are deteriorating, which gives acacia a foothold. The heavy rain accelerated this process and formed deep ditches in the landscape, which provided an ideal environment for these invasive spiny shrubs.

All these cheetahs are blind in one eye, which is typical in the study area. The invasive thorns are in the previously clean grasslands and traditional cheetah hunting areas.

As more and more cheetahs are forced to hunt in the pasture, the proportion of woody plants there is getting higher and higher, surpassing herbaceous plants, and the harm is getting bigger and bigger. Cheetahs are not only injured in the eyes and face, but also fatally injured in the body. As one researcher described it:

Jane Chigi wrote in her nature reserve newsletter that she tracked the source of a static radio collar signal and found a female cheetah Dottie.

"Dottie put her head out of the grass, stood up, took a few steps and fell down," she wrote.

"We were horrified to see that she was seriously injured, and the wound under her stomach showed her intestines."

The cheetah died, but its four cubs were found and sent to the Dewalt Center.

Howard Buffett, the son of American billionaire and investment tycoon Warren Buffett, a photographer and businessman, also suffered a similar accident.

Buffett described a fatal accident when a female cheetah chased an impala at a speed of 50 miles (80 kilometers) per hour.

"The cheetah cleaned up a short piece of wood during the chase and broke two branches for free. The hard branches split the sides of the cheetah's body, just like the hunter took out her internal organs. She was naked and almost dragged to the ground, "he wrote.

The cheetah died, but its cubs were also found and sent to a drug rehabilitation center.