Cheetahs, the fastest land animals, are sleek carnivores built for speed, reaching velocities up to 70 miles per hour. Their distinctive spotted coats provide camouflage in the dry grasslands and savannas they inhabit. Despite their remarkable adaptations, cheetah populations have faced a significant decline, leading to their classification as “Vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Their global numbers have significantly reduced, estimated at around 6,517 mature individuals in 2021, with many populations fragmented across Africa and a critically endangered group in Iran.
Loss of Habitat
The primary factor contributing to the cheetah’s declining numbers is the extensive loss and fragmentation of their natural habitat. Cheetahs require vast expanses of land for hunting and breeding due to their wide-ranging nature. Human population growth and agricultural expansion have converted these natural areas, including grasslands, savannas, and dry forests, into farmlands and settlements. This encroachment directly reduces available space, limiting hunting grounds and isolating populations.
Infrastructure development, such as roads and fencing, further exacerbates habitat fragmentation. These barriers restrict cheetah movement, preventing dispersal and gene flow. The loss of connected landscapes means cheetahs are increasingly confined to smaller, isolated patches, which heightens their vulnerability to other threats. This forces many cheetahs to live outside protected areas, often on private farmlands where human interaction is more frequent.
Decline in Prey
Human activities have reduced the cheetah’s natural prey species, leading to food scarcity. Cheetahs primarily hunt small to medium-sized ungulates, such as gazelles, impalas, and wildebeest calves. The hunting of these prey animals by humans for bushmeat, coupled with habitat degradation, directly impacts food availability for cheetahs. When wild prey populations diminish, cheetahs are forced to seek alternative food sources.
Competition with livestock for grazing land further reduces the food base for wild herbivores. As their traditional prey becomes scarcer, cheetahs may turn to domestic animals for sustenance. This shift in diet can lead to increased conflict with human communities, compounding the challenges faced by cheetah populations already struggling to find sufficient food in their shrinking habitats.
Conflict with Humans
Direct clashes between cheetahs and humans present a significant threat, particularly in farming and ranching areas. With their habitats shrinking and natural prey declining, cheetahs sometimes prey on livestock, including cattle, goats, and sheep. This predation leads to retaliatory killings by farmers protecting livelihoods. The loss of even a single animal can be devastating for a farmer, driving them to take measures against predators.
A majority of cheetahs, over 90 percent, reside outside formal protected areas, often sharing land with human communities. This close proximity increases the likelihood of conflict, as cheetahs are perceived as threats to livestock. A lack of knowledge regarding non-lethal deterrents can exacerbate these situations, leading to lethal actions against cheetahs. Effective coexistence strategies, such as livestock guarding dogs, can help reduce predation and mitigate these conflicts.
Illegal Trade
The illegal wildlife trade poses a distinct and growing threat to cheetah populations. Demand exists for cheetah cubs as exotic pets, particularly in the Middle East, and for their body parts, such as skins and bones, used as trophies or in traditional medicine. An estimated 300 cheetah cubs are taken from the wild annually, primarily from the Horn of Africa, for illegal pet markets. During transit, these cubs often suffer from abuse, malnutrition, and dehydration, many not surviving.
Poaching and smuggling operations decimate wild populations, especially young cubs, further jeopardizing the species’ future. Difficulty in captive breeding means wild-caught cubs are continuously sought to satisfy this illegal demand. This trade not only removes individuals from the wild but also contributes to fragmentation and local extinction of populations.
Genetic Challenges
Cheetahs possess a unique genetic vulnerability due to their historically low genetic diversity. This limited genetic variation stems from two significant population bottlenecks, approximately 100,000 and 10,000-12,000 years ago. This genetic uniformity means unrelated cheetahs can accept skin grafts from each other, indicating a lack of genetic markers that typically differentiate individuals in other species.
This low genetic diversity makes cheetahs more susceptible to diseases and limits their ability to adapt to environmental changes. For instance, a feline coronavirus outbreak in a captive breeding facility in 1983 had a 60% mortality rate among cheetahs, significantly higher than in other felids. Reduced genetic variation also affects their reproductive success, contributing to challenges in breeding programs and population recovery.