About

The Cheetah

The cheetah is the fastest land animal on Earth — built for speed with a flexible spine, oversized liver, and specialized claws for traction. It can go from 0 to 100 km/h in just 3 seconds. But speed, it turns out, isn't enough to outrun extinction.

Cheetahs have lost 93% of their historic range. They once roamed across most of Africa and through the Middle East and Central Asia. Today, they survive in just 9% of their historic range, scattered across fragmented populations in Africa and a tiny population in Iran.

The cheetah's biggest problem isn't speed — it's genetics. Cheetahs went through a near-extinction event about 10,000-12,000 years ago, and the surviving population was so small that all cheetahs today are essentially identical twins. This extreme genetic uniformity makes cheetahs highly susceptible to disease, reduces fertility, and means a single virus could theoretically wipe them out.

Threats

What's Killing the Cheetah?

Habitat loss 5/5

Agriculture and settlements fragment habitat

Human conflict 4/5

Farmers kill cheetahs protecting livestock

Genetic diversity 5/5

Bottleneck 10,000 years ago left genetic vulnerability

Conservation

What's Being Done?

  • Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia
  • Namibia's farmland conservancy program
  • Iran's Critically Endangered Asiatic cheetah program
  • Conflict mitigation with livestock farmers
    • Population History

    How We Got Here

    Watch

    See the Cheetah in the Wild

    Documentary: Cheetah

    Updates

    Latest Conservation News

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    Help Save the Cheetah

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