The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) has suffered considerable range contractions in recent decades. Despite the importance of up-to-date information on distribution to guide conservation, large areas within the species’ remaining potential range still lack this information. In Tanzania, the largest tract of potential cheetah habitat without such data is the Selous-Nyerere landscape. Although cheetah are considered ‘Possibly Extant’ in the landscape, the last confirmed sighting was in the late 1990s. Between 2020 and 2022, we carried out sign-based (spoor) and camera trap surveys across Selous Game Reserve and Nyerere National Park. We did not record any evidence of cheetah presence, and opportunistic enquiries with tourism operators and protected area management staff also did not provide any evidence of current or recent presence. Our findings suggest that current cheetah presence is very unlikely, and that Selous-Nyerere should not be treated as possible contemporary cheetah range. We conclude by discussing the possibility that Selous-Nyerere may have never hosted a resident cheetah population, and was instead either occasionally occupied by dispersers from other populations or represented the edge of populations which spanned areas now treated as corridors.
