Cheetah Facts

If placed in the big cat category, it would rank as the smallest, with an average size comparable to a big dog (approximately four feet long and eighty to one hundred and forty pounds).

Cheetahs are also as timid as they come. Unlike the roar of a big cat, a cheetah is more likely to chirp. In the wild, they would much rather prefer switching to a new food source rather than fighting any other predator for it.

Speed is the Cheetah's claim to fame. They are best known for being the fastest land animal in the world, capable of reaching a short sprint speed of seventy miles per hour. Yet even its swiftness of foot has not helped it keep apace with the slow and steady human encroachment on its habitat, the grasslands and shrub lands of African and Southwestern Asia.

Because grasslands are also suited for farms and ranches, increased human populations led to increased domestication of the land for livestock grazing and such. Whereas once cheetahs roamed a territory covering most of the African continent and southwestern Asia, today their habitat has shrunk to a small area in Iran and a few areas in North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.

Member states of the Convention on International Trades in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) listed the cheetah on Appendix I (the most endangered list) in 1975. According to the Redlist of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), the wild cheetah population currently ranges between nine and twelve thousand. Namibia is home to the largest cheetah population (approximately 2,500).

Stabilizing the population has been problematic. For reasons still not quite understood, cheetahs have evolved with a very limited genetic code, hindering their ability to reproduce strong offspring. Juvenile mortality rates in the wild are traditionally high and dwindling populations mean it's only more difficult to breed genetic diversity and strength into the species.

Man, of course, will be the cheetah's only hope for survival. Individual governments and governmental organizations such as CITES provide protection under legislative umbrellas that strictly limit cheetah hunting and trade.

Private groups, often in cooperation with governments, support cheetah conservation and breeding programs.

© 2001-2010. Patricia A. Michaels