Next in line for extinction: The Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus), a subspecies of cheetah that have less than 50 individuals left in the wild

The Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus), also known as Iranian cheetah, is the only one of the four subspecies of cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) that is found outside of Africa.

An Asiatic cheetah in Miandasht Wildlife Refuge, Iran. Image by reddBehnam Ghorbani, posted with the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

Back before humans became good hunters, the Asiatic cheetah was found in all of the Arabian Peninsula as well as in some parts of East-Asia, but its range steadily decreased during the 20th century. These days the only place you will find the Asiatic cheetah is in a small region in eastern-central Iran, where there are very few humans.

The Asiatic cheetah is in a really bad place in terms of survival, and it is believed to be only 50 Asiatic cheetahs left in the wild. This is obviously extremely few, and this is really the last chance we have to save them!

Because of the extremely low number, the IUCN Red List has classified them as Critically Endangered, which makes total sense when we think about how few 50 individuals really is.

Image by N.Farid, posted with the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

The biology of the Asiatic cheetah

The Asiatic cheetah is believed to have separated from its African relatives between 32,000 and 76,000 years ago. It looks a lot like the “regular” cheetah, with a spotted fur that is characteristic of the species. It does however have a shorter coat and mane than the African subspecies, and is a bit smaller. Another difference is the teardrop-like spot just under its eyes, which are not found on any of the other subspecies.

Other than the few points above, the physiology of the Asiatic cheetah is a lot like its cousins in Africa, and just like them this is considered the fastest animal in the world, and can reach speeds of up to 112 kilometers per hour! This extreme speed is great for hunting prey, but it's important to keep in mind that it can only sprint this fast for a very short distance, and gets really tired after only a few seconds, so it's not like it can outrun most of its prey over a longer distance.

The Asiatic cheetahs travel long distances to find prey, and tend to do their best to stay away from humans. They eat medium-sized herbivores such as gazelles, sheep, onagers (Equus hemionus onager), goats, and hares.

An Asiatic cheetah with a hare. Image by N.Farid, posted with the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

In contrast to many of the other big cats, we don’t know a whole lot about the Asiatic cheetah, and details about its reproduction is for example pretty unclear. The reason for this is because they are extremely rare, so finding a breeding female and studying her is difficult.

The threats to the Asiatic cheetahs

The biggest threat to the Asiatic cheetahs as obviously humans, more specifically famers who hunt them. There are generally very few humans living in the same areas as Asiatic cheetahs these days, but occasionally they will stumble upon farmers who keep sheep or goats. These are easy prey for the cheetahs, and famers will often hunt and kill the animals in order to protect their livestock.

In addition to being hunted to farmers, being hit by cars are another big problem that have played a big part in the reason why they have had a declining population. While few people live in the areas with them, some of these have roads that are used by miners who work in remote locations, and apparently it has not been uncommon that they have been hit by a passing car or truck.

Image by Tasnim News Agency, posted wih the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

A final threat is the lack of prey. They simply don’t find enough food to be able to breed. So while they find enough to stay alive, most females are unable to raise offspring with the amount of food she has available, which is a big factor for the decline, since very few cubs are born.

Current conservation efforts

The Iranian Department of Environment launched the project Conservation of the Asiatic Cheetah and its Associated Biota back in 2001, and got both funding and help from international organizations such as the IUCN. They did things like put radio collars on the cheetahs in order to track their movement, and put out lots of camera traps in order to grab pictures of them.

Some orphaned cubs whose parent was killed were successfully raised in captivity, and in addition to this there have been a lot of awareness raised. Most Asiatic cheetahs now live in protected areas where it is obviously illegal to hunt and kill them, but farmers are still considered a threat.

Scientists from the University of Buenos Aires attempted to clone an Asiatic cheetah, but the embryo was never born, so this did not really pan out. Indian scientists also wanted to try to clone them, but they were never able to obtain sperm and eggs from Iran who housed all the remaining cheetahs.

So as you can see, there are many programs in place to try to improve the odds of the Asiatic cheetah, but despite this their numbers keep falling every time they are counted. It seems like it is too late to save them at this point, but things can always change for the better if we make better conditions for them. 50 is obviously very few, but it should be more than enough to make a healthy population if we are able to stop the decline in the first place.

The “Next in line for extinction” series

Next in line for Extinction is a series of post by @valth where I am writing about organisms that are in a really bad place, and thus are going to be next in line for extinction. The purpose is to share information about these organisms, and raise awareness of their existence. While they are really close to going extinct, some of them are still savable, so raising awareness about them is a priority for me!

About @valth

Hey, I'm @valth - the author of this post. I love to write about nature, biology, animals, nature conservation, ecology and other related branches of science, and I occasionally write about my life, about Steem or about random stuff as well. I'm trying my best to write at least one post every day, so make sure to give me a follow if you enjoy my content and want to see more of it.

Join the @valth community!

I love nothing more than to engage with my readers, so please join the @valth community in the comment section. You will definitely find more information about the topic, personal experiences, questions, and even opposing views down there, so don't miss out on learning more.

I always reward users who post good comments, so please take the opportunity to share your views and get a small upvote in exchange for it.