Cheetah fur

As cheetah fur hairy skins are cheetahs called. At first, cheetah pelts were only processed into fur blankets , rugs and trophies, later also into fur clothing . In his standard work from 1911, the tobacco merchant Emil Brass did not mention anything about the use of fur; in 1925 he wrote: “Cheetah skins, as far as they are available in stores, are now a popular material for making women's coats, and are therefore well paid. because it is precisely the smallness of the densely distributed round spots on a lighter shade that results in very pretty patterns ”. Compared to the leopard , it was generally used less, only occasionally there were images in the fashion magazines. The interest of the fashion industry in the fur, which is still only supplied in small numbers, lasted until the retail trade gave it up.

In 1971 the International Fur Trade Federation recommended that its members refrain from trading, and on March 3, 1973 the cheetah was included in Appendix I of the Washington Convention . Only individual hunting trophies may be imported from Namibia; trade is prohibited.

Protection status:

Acinonyx jubatus , protected under the Washington Convention, Appendix I; according to the EC regulation 750/2013 Annex A. The annual export quotas for live specimens and game trophies are set as follows: Botswana: 5; Namibia: 150; Zimbabwe: 50. Strictly protected under the Federal Nature Conservation Act.

Detailed protection data: First listing since June 20, 1976. Particularly protected under the Federal Nature Conservation Act since August 31, 1980. Maximum protection since June 20, 1976.

history

On many old depictions of antiquity , spotted skins can be seen as room decorations, especially as body decorations or clothing, often as a sign of a high social position. However, the drawings are often not accurate enough to identify the type of coat depicted. Often they look like the simply spotted cheetah fur. B. Brendjes thinks, for example, of the depictions in Çatalhöyük (today Turkey, one of the oldest settlements known to us, it existed until around 6200 BC) that it is probably always the leopard skin, which is actually provided with rosette spots.

1801 is called as use for cheetah skins ("ounce skins") "only for horse blankets" . The fashion industry's interest in patterned fur began after 1900. It was not long ago that the western world began to wear fur with the hair facing outwards. Women's jackets made of Seal and Persianer, mostly in plain black, were the first materials. In the wild 1920s, clothing also became more exciting, and the sometimes wonderfully drawn species of the cat family became en vogue, a fashion that lasted more or less until the trade ban or at least the trade restriction of all types of cats in the 1970 / 80s. One of the first uses was car jackets for the then unheated or even open vehicles. In 1973, Marie Louise Steinbauer defined the ideal wearer of a cheetah fur in her book “Fur”: She is tall, elegant to extravagant, sporty and often a successful entrepreneur.

With the increasing income after the Second World War in the Federal Republic of Germany, fur sales also grew very quickly, and Germany became the main buyer of fur goods. The demand for the spotted cats was so great that the big cats in particular were threatened with extinction. The cheetah has been completely protected since 1973.

Egyptians with aprons made of cheetah and leopard skins
Wall painting of the temple of Beit El-Wali (plaster cast), Ramses II (* around 1303 BC; † 1213 BC) in Nubia

Appearance, distribution area

Cheetah flanks (excerpts)
Standard spotting
King cheetah

The homeland of the cheetah in Asia is Trans Caspia, India, the Middle East and Arabia as well as Africa, from Algeria to South and South West Africa. Up to now six subspecies of the cheetah have usually been distinguished; five in Africa and one in Asia.

The cheetah's coat has a golden yellow base color, with the belly side usually being visibly lighter. It is covered with compact black to brownish spots that are significantly smaller than those of a leopard and do not form rosettes. The face is darker and unspotted, but has two black stripes that run from the eyes to the corners of the mouth ( tear streaks ). It reaches a head body length of 110 to 150 centimeters, the tail 60 to 80 centimeters, the limbs are long. Males are slightly larger than females. Characteristic of the children's fur are the elongated hair on the top of the head and on the back, which bristly form a striking mane. The mane on the back is lost again by the age of ten weeks.

With the exception of the hair on the back of the neck, the coat is short-haired. The top hairs on the back measure an average of 35 millimeters and on the belly 115 millimeters. The length of the wool hair is 25 millimeters on the back and 40 millimeters on the belly. The fur is shiny, but coarse and sparse. There are around 2000 hairs on a square centimeter of the back, while there are only around 600 hairs on the stomach. There are 6 or 2.5 wool hairs for every guard hair. Nothing seems to be known about the hair change. In the north of the species area (Transcaspia) the winter fur differs significantly from the summer fur in length and density.

Asiatic cheetah: Once spread from North Africa north of the Sahara across Central Asia to India; today only Iran. According to an estimate by the Iranian Environmental Protection Agency, there are around 60 to 100 animals in northern Iran, mainly in the Kawir National Park, the Touran National Park, the Naybandan Game Reserve and two other reserves around the Dascht-e Kawir desert. The form of the Asiatic cheetah, which is trained for hunting, known as the “hunting leopard” , is about the size of a leopard , but is much longer-legged and slimmer. The ears are short and round; the hair is coarse, the hair on the back of the neck is somewhat longer, forming a kind of short mane. The belly is a little more shaggy. The basic color is yellow, lighter below, with closed, round, small, black spots everywhere.
Northwest African cheetah: This subspecies usually includes all cheetahs in northwestern Africa, but sometimes only the West African occurrences south of the Sahara. The subspecies is characterized by a particularly pale fur, but it has the typical eye stripes.
Northeast African cheetah: Northeast Africa, between Lake Chad and Somalia. Pale colored. In Egypt, the subspecies appears to be on the verge of extinction.
East African cheetah: Eastern Africa. In addition to southern Africa, this area represents a focus of the population.
South African cheetah: Southern Africa, which is the stronghold of today's cheetah population. There are several protected areas that are home to large populations, including the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Chobe, Nxai-Pan, the reserves in the Okavango Delta, Etosha and Liuwa-Plain.

King cheetah: The king cheetah was also long considered a subspecies, but its existence was doubted until 1975. The spots are fused into longitudinal stripes, elongated or stripe-like black areas. It is now clear that this is not a subspecies, but a rare mutation . Normally spotted cheetahs can be in one litter together with king cheetahs. King cheetahs are common all over Africa, and while they are still extremely rare, their numbers seem to have increased steadily over the past few decades.

Ancient Egyptian depiction of a priest with a cheetah or leopard skin
Francesco di Bartolomeo Archinto with cheetah collar (1494)
Baroness Meyer , cheetah with badger trim (between 1905 and 1910)
Cheetah cape (Thormählen, Kiel, 1973)

processing

Cheetah fur (front) in a hunting lodge (undated)

The processing of fur into clothing corresponds to that of other big cats; it was especially difficult to sort enough matching fur. Since cheetah skins do not have a coat length, the pelts were often trimmed with long-haired fur, especially colored foxes , or only on the collar and cuffs and trimmed on the hem of the coat. This saved scarce, spotted fur and made the garment longer.

In 1965, the fur consumption for a fur table with 4 to 6 pelts sufficient for a cheetah coat was specified (so-called coat "body" ). It was based on a board with a length of 112 centimeters and an average width of 150 centimeters and an additional sleeve section. This corresponds roughly to a fur material for a slightly exhibited coat of clothing size 46 from 2014. The maximum and minimum fur numbers can result from the different sizes of the sexes of the animals, the age groups and their origin. Depending on the type of fur, the three factors have different effects.

The durability coefficient for clothing made from cheetah fur is given as 50 to 60 percent.

As with most types of spotted fur, the possibility of redesigning worn cheetah clothing is classified as "very difficult", while the possibility of repairs is classified as "just on the edges". The difference between the individual heads and within a head made sorting out suitable material almost impossible.

Refinement of other types of fur with cheetah pattern

In times when spotted fur types were in demand, but also when big cat patterns are current in textile fashion, the fur finishing industry in particular dyes and prints inexpensive fur types accordingly. Calfskins , kidskins , lambskins and rabbit fur are particularly suitable for this. The correct trade name for this is cheetah calf, cheetah kid, cheetah lamb, etc.

Numbers and facts

In the literature on fur, in contrast to most other types of fur, there are no production figures for cheetah pelts.

Before 1925 , skins were not often on the market, the value is likely to have been around 50-100 marks .

annotation

↑ The information for a body was only given to make it easier to compare the types of fur. In fact, bodies were only made for small (up to about muskrat size ) and common types of fur, and also for pieces of fur . The following dimensions for a coat body were taken as a basis: body = height 112 cm, width below 160 cm, width above 140 cm, sleeves = 60 × 140 cm.
↑ The specified comparative values ( coefficients ) are the result of comparative tests by furriers and tobacco shops with regard to the degree of apparent wear and tear. The figures are not unambiguous; in addition to the subjective observations of durability in practice, there are also influences from fur dressing and fur finishing as well as numerous other factors in each individual case . More precise information could only be determined on a scientific basis. The division was made in steps of ten percent each. The most durable types of fur according to practical experience were set to 100 percent.

supporting documents

Painting a hluby dancer with a cheetah or leopard pattern (South Africa, 1930)

^ ^A ^b Emil Brass : From the realm of fur . 1st edition, published by the "Neue Pelzwaren-Zeitung and Kürschner-Zeitung", Berlin 1911, pp. 422–423 (for Cynaelurus jubatus ).
^ ^A ^b Emil Brass : From the realm of fur . 2nd improved edition, publisher of the "Neue Pelzwaren-Zeitung and Kürschner-Zeitung", Berlin 1925, pp. 508-510.
↑ Fritz Schmidt : The book of the fur animals and fur . FC Mayer Verlag, Munich 1970, pp. 159-160.
^ ^A ^b Christian Franke / Johanna Kroll: Jury Fränkel 's Rauchwaren-Handbuch 1988/89 . 10. revised and supplemented new edition, Rifra-Verlag Murrhardt, p. 97.
^ Wisia-online Federal Agency for Nature Conservation . Last accessed January 1, 2015.
↑ B. Brentjes: The leopard skin in the ancient Orient . In: Das Pelzgewerbe Vol. XVI / New Series, 1965 No. 6, p. 247.
^ Paul Schöps: Fellwerk der Großkatzen . Primary source GH Buse: The whole of the plot ... The first part of the fourth volume, Chapter VIII, Commodities for fur or smoke dealers . Pp. 3–142, Henningsche Buchhandlung, Erfurt 1801.
↑ ^a ^b Paul Schöps: Fellwerk der Großkatzen . In: Das Pelzgewerbe Neue Episode Vol. XXI No. 2, Hermelin-Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Berlin et al., Pp. 3-27.
^ Marie Louise Steinbauer, Rudolf Kinzel: Marie Louise Pelze . Steinbock Verlag, Hanover 1973, pp. 156-165.
↑ ^a ^b ^c Heinrich Dathe , Paul Schöps, with the collaboration of 11 specialist scientists: Pelztieratlas . VEB Gustav Fischer Verlag Jena, 1986, pp. 224-226.
↑ Wildlife Conservation Society: Rare Cheetahs Get Big-Cat Bling ( Memento of March 17, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
↑ Acinonyx jubatus ssp. hecki in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2012. Posted by: Belbachir, F., 2008. Accessed October 10, 2012th
^ ME Sunquist, FC Sunquist: Family Felidae (Cats) ; in: Don E. Wilson, Russell A. Mittermeier (Eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World , Volume 1: Carnivores ; Lynx Edicions, 2009; ISBN 978-84-96553-49-1 ; P. 155 f.
↑ ^a ^b ^c Acinonyx jubatus in the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN 2012. Posted by: Durant, S., Marker, L., Purchase, N., Belbachir, F., Hunter, L., Packer, C., Breitenmoser -Wursten, C., Sogbohossou, E. & Bauer, H., 2008. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
↑ ^a ^b ^c David G. Kaplan: World of Furs . Fairchield Publications. Inc., New York 1974, pp. 138, 160 (English).
↑ Paul Schöps among others: The material requirement for fur clothing . In: Das Pelzgewerbe Vol. XVI / New Series 1965 No. 1, Hermelin-Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Berlin et al., Pp. 7-12.
↑ Paul Schöps; H. Brauckhoff, Stuttgart; K. Häse, Leipzig, Richard König , Frankfurt / Main; W. Straube-Daiber, Stuttgart: The durability coefficients of fur skins . In: Das Pelzgewerbe , Volume XV, New Series, 1964, No. 2, Hermelin Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Berlin, Frankfurt / Main, Leipzig, Vienna, pp. 56–58.