Asiatic Cheetahs

Photo copyright IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group

Cheetahs are commonly thought of as African animals, but at one time they ranged over the grasslands of India, Pakistan, Russia, Iran and the Middle East. Today, there are only two small populations confirmed outside of southern Africa. The cats disappeared as their ungulate prey base was depleted by man, and as a result of direct persecution.

In 1993, a small remnant population was found in the south-western Sahara. These cats are smaller and stockier than their southern cousins with unusually large ears, and a pronounced, square muzzle. The coat colour is lighter, and the black markings muted. Estimates of this northern African population range from 300-500 cats surviving in Algeria, Chad, Mali and Niger. Mountain ranges up to 2,000 metres form their stronghold, although they can range far out onto sandy plains where there is sufficient prey. Toubou nomads, familiar with these cats, say they hunt on the plains in the cooler winter months, and retreat into the mountains during the hot dry summers. They are also known to hunt at night, when the temperatures are cooler.

An estimated 50 Asian Cheetahs are thought to exist in Iran, and a government sanctioned research project has been underway there since 1997. Their habitat is shrub steppe, mixed bush and grasslands, where it snows in winter. The Iranian cheetahs, outside of protected areas with remaining gazelle populations, prey mainly on hares, an abundant food source since they are not usually taken by Muslim hunters. In Turkmenistan, on Iran’s northern border, cheetahs have not been seen since the 1970’s, when their prey base, gazelles and antelope, was eliminated by hunters.

In the Sahara and Europe, cheetahs were kept by nobility and trained to hunt, a practice dating back 5,000 years to the Sumerians. In India, the Moghul Emperor Akbar was reputed to have collected 9,000 cheetahs in his lifetime. By the early 1900’s cheetahs had nearly disappeared from India, as the royal family had no success breeding them in captivity.

Asian cheetahs have very low population numbers, and widely separated populations. These cats are extremely vulnerable to any reduction in their prey though livestock overgrazing and hunting, as well as persecution for their predation on livestock. None of these rare cheetahs exist in captivity.