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Conservation Status Vulnerable The Cheetah is the fastest living land mammal; attaining speeds around 96 km/hr whilst hunting to small to medium sized prey such as Thompson's or Grant's Gazelle. Like most cats (except lions) cheetah are mainly solitary animals with each adult animal maintaining a large territory to serve as its hunting range. Once weaned sub-adult cubs, especially males, may stay together for some time and at this time they may hunt larger prey including zebra. Threats Cheetah were once widely distributed throughout Africa and Asia. Today the Asiatic subspecies of the cheetah is listed as Critically Endangered with a possible remnant population in Iran - though there is a high probability that it is extinct. The north-west African subspecies is listed as Endangered with small, rarely seen populations in Algeria, Morocco and Niger though it is already extinct in Egypt and Libya. In sub-Saharan Africa the cheetah survives in scattered populations where suitable habitat remains. Recent genetic studies of cheetah indicate that all living cheetah on earth are unusually closely related which strongly suggests that some time in their relatively recent past, the cheetah population fell to a small number and thus all Cheetah today have come from this small group of ancestors. Note! The King Cheetah, an impressive animal with many of its spots blended together, is not a separate species or subspecies but rather a genetic variation such as the white form of a lion or tiger. Perth Zoo Involvement Because of the need to house cheetah separately, Perth Zoo's exhibit in the African Savannah allows us to keep only one cheetah.
Approximate Word count = 979
Approximate Pages = 3.9
(250 words per page double spaced)
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