Cheetah

About the cheetah

The cheetah is a large feline and the only living member of the genus Acinonyx. It's built almost entirely for one job: running down prey at speed. The species is the fastest land animal, capable of hitting 93–104 km/h (58–65 mph), and its whole frame reflects that specialization. Powerful hindlimb muscles, long limbs, and a flexible spine let it accelerate and cover ground in a way no other big cat can match. The cheetah has a small, rounded head, a short snout, and black tear-like streaks running from the inner corners of its eyes down to its mouth — a marking unique among cats and one that may help cut glare from the sun.

Its coat is tawny to creamy white or pale buff, darker across the mid-back, with white, unmarked fur on the chin, throat, belly, and inner legs. Around 2,000 evenly spaced, solid black spots, each roughly 3–5 cm (1.2–2.0 in) across, cover the rest of the body, and every cheetah's spot pattern is distinct enough to identify the individual. A short, rough mane runs along the neck and shoulders, more pronounced in males, and starts out in cubs as a cape of long, loose blue-gray hair. The long tail, 60–80 cm (24–31 in), carries spots along its first two-thirds and four to six dark rings near its bushy white tip.

Cheetahs were first described scientifically in the late 18th century. Four subspecies are recognized today, native to Africa and central Iran; an African subspecies was introduced to India in 2022. In the wild, the species now survives mainly in small, fragmented populations across northwestern, eastern, and southern Africa and central Iran, occupying habitats as varied as the savannahs of the Serengeti, arid mountain ranges in the Sahara, and hilly desert terrain. The cheetah's closest living relatives are the cougar and the jaguarundi; together the three form the Puma lineage, which split off from other cats roughly 6.7 million years ago.

Behavior and diet

Cheetahs organize themselves into three main social arrangements: females with their cubs, coalitions of males, and solitary males. Females live a largely nomadic life, ranging widely in search of prey, while males tend to be more settled, holding smaller territories where prey is plentiful and females are likely to pass through. The species is active mainly during the day, with the most activity around dawn and dusk.

Cheetahs hunt small to medium-sized prey, usually under 40 kg (88 lb), favoring medium-sized ungulates such as impala, springbok, and Thomson's gazelles. A hunt typically starts with a slow stalk, closing the distance to somewhere between 30 and 200 m (98–656 ft) of the target before launching into a high-speed chase. The cheetah trips the prey using the dewclaw on its foreleg, then makes the kill with a bite to the throat. Because of its build, the cheetah is vulnerable to having its kills stolen by lions and hyenas, and its cubs face heavy predation from the same animals.

Breeding happens year-round. After a gestation period of nearly three months, a female gives birth to a litter of three or four cubs. The cubs are weaned at around four months old and become independent by about 20 months of age. Cub mortality in the wild is high, driven largely by predation from larger carnivores that share the cheetah's range.

Range and habitat

The cheetah's range today is fragmented and considerably smaller than it once was, with populations concentrated in northwestern, eastern, and southern Africa, plus a remaining population in central Iran. In 2022, an African subspecies was introduced to India as part of a reintroduction effort. Across this range, cheetahs occupy a wide mix of habitats — open savannah grasslands like those of the Serengeti, arid mountain terrain in the Sahara, and hilly desert country — reflecting the species' tolerance for dry, open landscapes where it can spot and chase prey over long sightlines.

Conservation status

The cheetah is listed as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List. The global population was estimated at 6,517 mature individuals in 2021. The species faces pressure from habitat loss, conflict with humans, poaching, and a notably high susceptibility to disease, a vulnerability tied to unusually low genetic diversity across the species. That low variability has also made captive breeding difficult and has been linked to elevated juvenile mortality. Cheetahs have a long history alongside people: they were tamed in ancient Egypt, trained for hunting in the Arabian Peninsula and India, and have been kept in zoos since the early 19th century.