The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is a large feline and the only living animal in the genus Acinonyx. It is known as a pursuit predator and is the fastest land animal, able to run at speeds of 93–104 km/h (58–65 mph). It has adapted for speed with strong back legs, long limbs, and a spine that can bend easily. The cheetah’s fur ranges from tawny to creamy white or pale buff and is marked with evenly spaced, solid black spots. Its head is small and rounded, with a short snout and black tear-like streaks on its face. It stands 67–94 cm (2.20–3.08 ft) tall at the shoulder, and its body length is between 1.1 and 1.5 m (3 ft 7 in and 4 ft 11 in). Adult cheetahs weigh between 21 and 65 kg (46 and 143 lb).

The cheetah was first scientifically described in the late 18th century. Four subspecies are recognized today, living in Africa and central Iran. An African subspecies was introduced to India in 2022. Today, cheetahs are mainly found in small, scattered groups in northwestern, eastern, and southern Africa and central Iran. They live in many types of habitats, such as the savannahs of the Serengeti, arid mountain ranges in the Sahara, and hilly desert areas.

Cheetahs live in three main social groups: females with their cubs, groups of males called coalitions, and single males. Females move frequently, searching for prey in large areas, while males stay in smaller territories where food and females are plentiful. Cheetahs are active during the day, with the most activity at dawn and dusk. They hunt small to medium-sized animals, usually weighing less than 40 kg (88 lb), such as impalas, springboks, and Thomson’s gazelles. Cheetahs stalk prey from 30–200 m (98–656 ft) away before chasing it at high speed. They use their dewclaw to trip the prey and kill it with a bite to the throat. Cheetahs breed all year. After nearly three months of pregnancy, females give birth to litters of three or four cubs. The cubs are weaned at about four months and become independent by around 20 months. Cheetah cubs are at high risk of being killed by other large predators, such as lions and hyenas, which also steal food from adult cheetahs.

Cheetahs face threats from habitat loss, conflicts with humans, poaching, and a high risk of disease. In 2021, the global cheetah population was estimated at 6,517 individuals. The cheetah is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. It has been widely shown in art, literature, advertising, and animation. Although not typically domesticated, cheetahs were tamed in ancient Egypt and trained to hunt hoofed animals in the Arabian Peninsula and India. They have been kept in zoos since the early 19th century.

Etymology

The common name "cheetah" comes from the words "čītā" in Hindustani Urdu and Hindi. This word is based on the Sanskrit word "Chitra-ya," which means "variegated," "adorned," or "painted." In the past, cheetahs were sometimes called "hunting leopards" because they could be trained to help with hunting. The scientific name "Acinonyx" likely comes from two Greek words: "akī́nētos," meaning "unmoved" or "motionless," and "ónyx," meaning "nail" or "hoof." A simple way to understand this is "immobile nails," which refers to the cheetah's limited ability to pull its claws back. A similar meaning can be made by combining the Greek prefix "a–" (meaning "without") and "kīnéō" (meaning "to move" or "to start moving"). The specific name "jubatus" is Latin for "crested" or "having a mane."

Older scientific names like "Cynailurus" and "Cynofelis" show the similarities between cheetahs and canids.

Taxonomy

In 1777, Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber described the cheetah using a skin from the Cape of Good Hope and gave it the scientific name Felis jubatus. In 1828, Joshua Brookes suggested the name Acinonyx for the cheetah’s group. In 1917, Reginald Innes Pocock placed the cheetah in its own subfamily, Acinonychinae, because its body structure was similar to a greyhound and very different from other cats. Later, scientists classified the cheetah in the subfamily Felinae.

During the 1800s and 1900s, many cheetah specimens were studied, and some were thought to be subspecies. In 1877, Philip Sclater described a South African cheetah with very thick fur as Felis lanea, called the "woolly cheetah." Scientists debated whether this was a separate species. There was also confusion between cheetahs and leopards (Panthera pardus) because some scientists mixed up the two animals. Some even thought "hunting leopards" were a different species or the same as regular leopards.

In 1975, scientists recognized five cheetah subspecies: A. j. hecki, A. j. jubatus, A. j. raineyi, A. j. soemmeringii, and A. j. venaticus. In 2011, a study about cheetah genetics found little difference between A. j. jubatus and A. j. raineyi, so only four subspecies were identified. In 2017, the IUCN Cat Specialist Group updated the cheetah’s classification and confirmed these four subspecies as valid. Their details are listed below.

Phylogeny and evolution

The cheetah's closest relatives are the cougar (Puma concolor) and the jaguarundi (Herpailurus yagouaroundi). These three species together form the Puma lineage, one of eight groups of living cats. The Puma lineage became genetically different from other cat groups about 6.7 million years ago. The group closely related to the Puma lineage includes smaller Old World cats, such as those in the genera Felis, Otocolobus, and Prionailurus.

The oldest cheetah fossils found in eastern and southern Africa are between 3.5 and 3 million years old. The earliest known cheetah fossil from South Africa comes from the Silberberg Grotto (Sterkfontein). Though incomplete, these fossils show cheetahs that were larger but not as fast as modern cheetahs. The first evidence of the modern cheetah species, Acinonyx jubatus, in Africa may be from Cooper's D, a site in South Africa dated to 1.5 to 1.4 million years ago, during the Calabrian stage. Fossil remains of cheetah-like cats in Europe are limited to a few specimens from the Middle Pleistocene in Hundsheim (Austria) and Mosbach Sands (Germany). Cheetah-like cats lived as recently as 10,000 years ago in the Old World. The giant cheetah (Acinonyx pardinensis), much larger and slower than modern cheetahs, lived in Eurasia and parts of Africa during the Villafranchian period, roughly 3.8 to 1.9 million years ago. A smaller cheetah, Acinonyx intermedius, lived from Europe to China during the Middle Pleistocene. Modern cheetahs appeared in Africa around 1.9 million years ago, and their fossils are only found in Africa.

Extinct cheetah-like cats in North America were once grouped with Felis, Puma, or Acinonyx. Two species, Felis studeri and Felis trumani, were thought to be closer to cougars than cheetahs, despite looking similar to cheetahs. In 1979, paleontologist Daniel Adams created a new group, Miracinonyx, under Acinonyx, for North American cheetah-like cats. Later, Miracinonyx was classified as its own genus. Adams suggested that North American and Old World cheetah-like cats might share a common ancestor, and Acinonyx may have originated in North America instead of Eurasia. However, later research found that Miracinonyx is more closely related to cougars than cheetahs. The similarities to cheetahs are likely due to parallel evolution, where similar traits developed independently.

The three species in the Puma lineage may have shared a common ancestor during the Miocene period, about 8.25 million years ago. Some scientists believe North American cheetahs may have crossed the Bering Strait into Asia and then spread to Africa through Eurasia about 100,000 years ago. Others question whether cheetah-like cats lived in North America and suggest modern cheetahs evolved from Asian populations that later reached Africa. Cheetahs likely experienced two population bottlenecks, which greatly reduced genetic diversity. The first occurred about 100,000 years ago, possibly linked to migration from North America to Asia. The second happened 10,000–12,000 years ago in Africa, possibly during the Late Pleistocene extinction event.

Genetics

The cheetah has 38 chromosomes in each of its body cells, the same number found in most other members of the cat family. Cheetahs have very little genetic differences between individuals, which has caused problems such as difficulty in breeding in captivity, issues with sperm cells, high death rates among young cheetahs, and greater chances of getting sick. A serious example was a deadly disease outbreak in 1983 at a cheetah breeding center in Oregon, where 60% of the cheetahs died, a higher death rate than seen in similar diseases in other cats. Studies on the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes show that cheetahs have very similar genes. In most animals, if two unrelated individuals exchange skin grafts, the graft is rejected. However, in cheetahs, skin grafts between unrelated individuals are accepted and heal, as if they share the same genetic makeup.

The low genetic diversity in cheetahs is believed to have happened because of two times when their population became very small, around 100,000 and 12,000 years ago. This led to a very low level of genetic variation, about 0.1–4% of what is typical for most living species. This is lower than the genetic diversity found in Tasmanian devils, Virunga gorillas, Amur tigers, and even some domestic cats and dogs that are very closely related.

The king cheetah is a type of cheetah with a rare genetic change that causes its fur to be cream-colored with large, blotchy spots and three dark, wide stripes running from the neck to the tail. In Zimbabwe, this type was called nsuifisi and was once thought to be a mix between a leopard and a hyena. In 1926, a hunter named Major A. Cooper described a cheetah-like animal with thick fur and spots that formed stripes, suggesting it might be a mix between a leopard and a cheetah. Later observations showed that these animals had non-retractable claws, like regular cheetahs.

In 1927, a scientist named Pocock named this type Acinonyx rex, or "king cheetah," but later changed his mind due to lack of evidence. Another scientist, Abel Chapman, believed it was just a color variation of the regular cheetah. Since 1927, king cheetahs have been reported five more times in the wild in Zimbabwe, Botswana, and northern Transvaal; one was photographed in 1975.

In 1981, two female cheetahs at a wildlife center in South Africa gave birth to king cheetahs after mating with a wild male from Transvaal. More king cheetahs were born there later. In 2012, scientists discovered that this unique fur pattern is caused by a mutation in the gene for transmembrane aminopeptidase (Taqpep), the same gene that controls the striped or blotchy patterns in tabby cats. This mutation reinforces a recessive gene, meaning that if two cheetahs both carry the mutated gene, about 25% of their offspring may have the king cheetah pattern.

Characteristics

The cheetah is a thin, spotted cat with a small, narrow head, short nose, black tear-like marks on its face, a deep chest, long legs, and a long tail. Its body shape is similar to dogs and is built for running quickly. This shape is very different from the heavy bodies of other big cats like those in the Panthera group and cougars. Cheetahs are about 67–94 cm (2.20–3.08 ft) tall at the shoulder, and their body length is between 1.1 and 1.5 m (3 ft 7 in and 4 ft 11 in). Their weight depends on age, health, location, sex, and type, but adults usually weigh between 21 and 65 kg (46 and 143 lb). Baby cheetahs born in the wild weigh about 150–300 g (5.3–10.6 oz), while those born in zoos are often heavier, weighing around 500 g (18 oz). Female cheetahs are usually smaller than males. Scientists have found many differences in the physical features of different cheetah types.

The cheetah’s fur is usually a light yellow or pale brown, but it is darker on the back. Its face, throat, legs, and belly are white and have no spots. The rest of its body has about 2,000 evenly spaced black spots, each about 3–5 cm (1.2–2.0 in) in size. Each cheetah has a unique pattern of spots that can help identify individuals. There are also faint, irregular black marks on the coat. Newborn cubs have a dark, unclear pattern of spots, appearing almost black on the underside and pale on top. Their fur is mostly short and coarse, but the chest and belly are soft. King cheetahs have silky fur. A short, rough mane covers at least 8 cm (3.1 in) of the neck and shoulders, and this is more noticeable in males. Juveniles have a long, loose blue or grey mane. Some cheetahs are black (melanistic), and a few are almost white (albino). A rare cheetah with a striped pattern (tabby) was seen in Kenya in 2012.

Saharan cheetahs have narrow, dog-like faces. Their ears are small, rounded, and have black patches on the back. Their eyes are high on the head and have round pupils. The black tear-like marks on their face are unique to cheetahs and start at the corners of the eyes, running down the nose to the mouth. The purpose of these marks is not fully understood, but they may help protect the eyes from sunlight or show facial expressions. Cheetahs have fewer and shorter whiskers than other big cats. Their long tail ends with a fluffy white tuft and measures 60–80 cm (24–31 in). The first two-thirds of the tail have spots, and the last third has 4–6 dark rings or stripes.

The leopard has rosettes (flower-like patterns) instead of spots and no tear-like marks. The serval looks similar to the cheetah but has stripes on its back.

Cheetahs have a body built for sprinting. Their thigh muscles are 50% heavier than expected for their size, while those of lions and tigers are closer to normal. Their hind legs have 50.1% of a type of muscle fiber called type IIx, and their neck and trunk have 40%, while their front legs have 36%. Cheetahs have very large brain cells called Betz cells, which help control their strong muscles. However, cheetahs cannot use oxygen as well as other animals. Their muscle cells have only 3.7% of the volume needed for oxygen use, compared to 6.5–10.7% in dogs and ponies.

Cheetahs have the largest front sinuses of any big cat, which may help cool the air they breathe. After hunting, cheetahs have body temperatures of about 38.6 °C (101.5 °F), showing they do not overheat during intense activity.

Their claws are short, straight, and not fully covered by skin. They are partly retractable, but not as much as in other cats. This is because their middle finger bones are shorter. The claws are blunt because they lack protection, but the dewclaw (a claw on the front paw) is sharp and curved.

Cheetahs move by bending their spine before each step, which helps them take longer strides. Their body length when bent is only 67% of its full length, compared to 80–90% in horses. Their lower back is the longest part of their spine among carnivores, making up half the length of their spine.

The cheetah’s tail is not used to balance because it is only 2% of its body weight. Instead, the tail acts like a rudder, as the thick fur increases its surface area by 40%, creating more drag. The tail can move quickly, reaching angles of 90° and speeds of 17–22 radians per second.

The cheetah’s skull is triangular and has light, narrow bones. The top of the skull has a small bump (sagittal crest), which may help reduce weight for speed. Their jaws cannot open as wide as other cats because the muscles connecting the jaw to the skull are shorter.

Cheetahs have 30 teeth. Their small, cone-shaped teeth are used to bite the throat of prey and suffocate it. Their jaws can produce the strongest bite force in their type of teeth among big cats, at 689 Newtons. Their teeth overlap when their jaws close, and their carnassial teeth (used for cutting meat) are long and blade-like, helping them eat prey quickly before other predators arrive.

The cheetah is the fastest land animal, able to catch pronghorns and fast antelopes even if they start 137 m (449 ft) ahead. Cheetahs can outrun greyhounds in races. A speed of 114 km/h (71 mph) was once reported but is now considered incorrect. The highest confirmed speed is 104 km/h (65 mph), and another reliable speed is 100.1 km/h (62.2 mph). A cheetah at the Cincinnati Zoo reached 98 km/h (61 mph).

Cheetahs with GPS collars usually run slower than their top speed, averaging 5

Distribution and habitat

Cheetahs are found mainly in eastern and southern Africa, where they live in savannas such as the Kalahari and Serengeti. In central, northern, and western Africa, they live in dry mountain areas and valleys. In the Sahara desert, they prefer high mountains that get more rainfall than the surrounding desert. The plants and water in these mountains support antelopes. In Iran, cheetahs live in hilly desert areas at heights up to 2,000–3,000 meters, where yearly rainfall is usually less than 100 millimeters. The main plants in these areas are small shrubs that are less than 1 meter tall.

Cheetahs live in many types of ecosystems and are less picky about their habitat than other big cats. They prefer areas with more prey, clear views, and fewer large predators. They rarely live in tropical forests. Cheetahs have been seen at heights up to 4,000 meters. An open area with scattered bushes is likely the best habitat for cheetahs because they need to stalk and chase prey over long distances. This also helps them avoid larger predators. Cheetahs usually live in low numbers, about 0.3 to 3 adults per 100 square kilometers. These numbers are 10–30% of those for leopards and lions.

In prehistoric times, cheetahs lived across Africa, Western, and Central Asia. Today, cheetahs are no longer found in most of their old areas. The numbers of Asiatic cheetahs began to drop sharply in the late 1800s, long before other cheetahs started to decline. As of 2017, cheetahs live in only 9% of their former range in Africa, mostly in areas without protection. Until the mid-20th century, cheetahs lived in large areas of Asia, from the Arabian Peninsula in the west to the Indian subcontinent in the east, and as far north as the Aral and Caspian Seas. A few centuries ago, cheetahs were common in India, where they shared their range with prey like blackbucks. However, their numbers dropped from the 19th century onward. The last three wild cheetahs in India were killed by Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh of Surguja in 1947. The last confirmed sighting in India was of a cheetah that drowned in a well near Hyderabad in 1957.

In the Soviet Union, cheetahs lived in the "desert plains of Middle Asia and southern Kazakhstan and the eastern Trans-Caucasus." During the Middle Ages, cheetahs lived as far west as Georgia and likely survived in the Kura-Aras lowland and central Aras River valley until the 18th century. However, they went extinct in the region after goitered gazelles declined and due to human actions. By the mid-20th century, cheetahs were still found in some parts of the region west of the Amu Darya and Aral Sea, but their numbers dropped quickly.

In Iraq, cheetahs were reported in Basra in the 1920s. In Iran, there were about 400 cheetahs before World War II, spread across deserts and steppes to the east and borderlands with Iraq to the west. Their numbers declined due to fewer prey animals. Conservation efforts in the 1950s helped stabilize the population, but prey animals decreased again after the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and the Iran–Iraq War, leading to a major reduction in cheetahs’ range in the region.

In 1975, cheetahs were estimated to number 15,000 across Sub-Saharan Africa, following the first survey in this region by Norman Myers. Their range covered most of eastern and southern Africa, except for the desert areas on the western coast of modern-day Angola and Namibia. In the years that followed, cheetah populations became smaller and more scattered as their natural habitat was changed. Cheetah mummies from 4223–127 years before present have been found in a cave system in Saudi Arabia.

Today, cheetahs are mostly found in eastern and southern Africa. Their presence in Asia is limited to the central deserts of Iran, though there have been unconfirmed reports of sightings in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan in recent decades. The global cheetah population was estimated at nearly 7,100 adult cheetahs in 2016. The Iranian population decreased from 60 to 100 individuals in 2007 to 43 in 2016, spread across three small groups in less than 150,000 square kilometers of Iran’s central plateau. The largest population, nearly 4,000 cheetahs, is spread out across Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zambia. Another group in Kenya and Tanzania includes about 1,000 cheetahs. All other cheetahs live in small, scattered groups of fewer than 100 individuals each. Populations are believed to be decreasing.

Ecology and behaviour

Cheetahs are most active during the day, while their competitors, such as spotted hyenas and lions, are mainly active at night. These larger predators can kill cheetahs and take their food, so cheetahs being active during the day helps them avoid these dangers in areas where they share the same habitat, like the Okavango Delta. In places where cheetahs are the main predator, such as farmlands in Botswana and Namibia, they may be more active at night. This can also happen in very dry areas like the Sahara, where daytime temperatures can reach 43°C (109°F). The moon’s cycle can affect cheetah behavior—cheetahs may be more active on moonlit nights because they can see prey more easily, but this also increases the risk of meeting larger predators. Hunting is their main activity during the day, with the most activity happening at dawn and dusk. After sunset, cheetahs rest in open grassy areas. They often check their surroundings from high places, like hills, to look for prey or larger predators, even while resting.

Cheetahs have a flexible and complex social system and are more social than other cats. They usually avoid each other but are generally friendly. Males may fight over territory or access to females ready to mate, and these fights can sometimes cause serious harm or death. Female cheetahs are not social and rarely interact with others, except when males enter their territory or during mating. Some females, like mothers and their cubs or siblings, may rest together during the day. Females usually live alone or with their young in areas they do not defend. Young females often stay close to their mothers for life, while young males leave their mother’s area to live elsewhere. Some males form groups to defend a territory, which gives them better access to females. This is different from male lions, who mate with a group of females. In most cases, these groups are made of brothers from the same litter, but sometimes unrelated males join. In the Serengeti, 30% of males in groups are not related. If a cub is the only male in a litter, it may join an existing group or form a small group with other lone males. In the Kalahari Desert, about 40% of males live alone.

Males in a group are affectionate toward each other, grooming and calling out if a member is lost. Unrelated males may take time to get used to being together. All males in a group share food equally when hunting and may also share access to females who enter their territory. A group has a better chance of finding females to mate with, but it needs more resources than a single male. A study from 1987 showed that single and grouped males have similar chances of finding females, but grouped males are healthier and have better survival rates. Male cheetahs are more accepting of cubs that are not their own than other big cats, and claims of killing cubs are not always proven.

Female cheetahs usually have larger areas they travel in than males. They move over large areas to find food but stay in smaller areas if food is plentiful. The size of their area depends on how much prey is available. In central Namibia, where prey is scarce, their areas range from 554 to 7,063 km (214 to 2,727 sq mi), while in the woodlands of Phinda Game Reserve, their areas are smaller, from 34 to 157 km (13 to 61 sq mi). Cheetahs can travel long distances daily; in the Kalahari Desert, they moved an average of 11 km (6.8 mi) each day, walking at speeds of 2.5 to 3.8 km/h (1.6 to 2.4 mph).

Males are generally less nomadic than females. Some males in groups or those living alone far from groups establish areas they stay in. Whether males settle in a territory or travel widely depends on where females move. Males prefer to defend a territory only if females are more settled, which is easier in areas with plenty of prey. Some males, called floaters, switch between living in a territory and traveling widely depending on where females are. A 1987 study showed that the size and age of males and the number of males in a group affect whether they defend a territory. Floaters in the Serengeti had areas averaging 777 km (300 sq mi), while in central Namibia, their areas averaged 1,464 km (565 sq mi). In Kruger National Park, territories were smaller. A group of three males occupied 126 km (49 sq mi), and a single male’s territory was 195 km (75 sq mi). When a female enters a territory, males surround her. If she tries to escape, they may bite or snap at her. Usually, the female cannot escape on her own, and the males leave after they are no longer interested. They may smell the area where the female was to check if she was ready to mate.

Cheetahs are vocal animals with many different sounds. Their calls are often different from other cats. Cheetahs make louder sounds when exhaling than when inhaling. Common calls include:

• Chirping: A short, bird-like call used when excited, such as when cheetahs gather around food. Mothers use it to call lost cubs, and adults use it to greet each other or during mating. This call is similar to a lion’s soft roar. A louder version, called a "yelp," can be heard up to 2 km (1.2 mi) away and is used by mothers to find lost cubs or by cubs to find their mothers.
• Churring: A high-pitched, short sound that can last up to two seconds. It is used in similar situations as chirping but is less common. Studies show chirping is more frequent during feeding.
• Purring: A loud, continuous sound made when cheetahs are happy, during greetings, or when they groom each other. It alternates between exhaling and inhaling air.
• Agonistic sounds: These include sounds like bleating, coughing, growling, hissing, meowing, and moaning. Bleating shows distress, such as when a cheetah faces a predator that took its food. Growls, hisses, and moans are often accompanied by pawing the ground and moving backward. A meow is used for discomfort or irritation.
• Other sounds: Cheetahs make gurgling noises during friendly interactions. A "nyam nyam" sound is made while eating. Mothers use a repeated "ihn ihn" to gather cubs and a "prr prr" to guide them. A low-pitched alarm call warns cubs to

Threats

Cheetahs face many dangers, such as losing their homes and being separated from other cheetahs. Losing their homes happens when land is used for farming or industry. This problem is made worse by environmental damage, such as the growth of trees and bushes in southern Africa. Cheetahs need large areas to live in because they are not very common in any one place. A lack of food and conflicts with humans and other animals, like lions, are also major dangers. Cheetahs seem to struggle more than leopards in sharing space with people. About 76% of cheetah areas are not protected, so farmers and herders often try to kill cheetahs to protect their animals, especially in Namibia. In some regions, like Ethiopia, people illegally trade cheetah parts. Some groups, like the Maasai in Tanzania, use cheetah skins in traditions. Roads built through natural areas or parks can harm cheetahs, as seen in places like Kalmand, Touran National Park, and Bafq in Iran. Cheetahs have less genetic diversity, making them more likely to get sick. However, their low numbers may reduce the chance of disease spreading.

Conservation

The cheetah is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. It is also included in Appendix I of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals and Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. The Endangered Species Act lists the cheetah as Endangered.

Until the 1970s, cheetahs and other carnivores were often killed in Africa to protect livestock. Over time, people learned more about cheetahs and realized their numbers were decreasing. In 1971, the De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Centre was created in South Africa to care for cheetahs that were trapped or injured by farmers in Namibia. By 1987, the first major research project on cheetah conservation began. In 1990, the Cheetah Conservation Fund was founded in Namibia to study cheetahs and educate people about them worldwide. The fund operates a cheetah genetics laboratory in Otjiwarongo, which is the only one of its kind. A program called "Bushblok" helps restore habitats by thinning vegetation and using biomass. Additional cheetah-specific conservation programs, such as Cheetah Outreach in South Africa, were later established.

In 2002, the Global Cheetah Action Plan Workshop emphasized the need to survey cheetahs across their entire range to identify conservation areas and raise awareness through training. In 2007, the Range Wide Conservation Program for Cheetahs and African Wild Dogs began as a joint effort by the IUCN, Wildlife Conservation Society, and Zoological Society of London. Many African countries developed national conservation plans. In 2014, the CITES Standing Committee recognized cheetahs as a "species of priority" in northeastern Africa to address wildlife trafficking.

Cheetahs were reintroduced to Malawi in 2017.

In 2001, the Iranian government partnered with the Cheetah Conservation Fund, IUCN, Panthera Corporation, United Nations Development Programme, and Wildlife Conservation Society on the Conservation of Asiatic Cheetah Project (CACP) to protect the habitat of Asiatic cheetahs and their prey. In 2004, Iran’s Iranian Centre for Sustainable Development held an international workshop to discuss conservation plans with local groups. In 2006, Iran declared August 31 as National Cheetah Day. In 2010, a five-year plan for Asiatic cheetah conservation was created. The CACP Phase II started in 2009, and Phase III was planned in 2018.

In the early 2000s, scientists from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad proposed cloning Asiatic cheetahs from Iran for reintroduction to India, but Iran refused. In 2009, India’s Minister of Environment and Forests asked the Wildlife Trust of India and Wildlife Institute of India to study the possibility of importing African cheetahs. Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary and Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary were suggested as reintroduction sites due to high prey numbers. However, in 2012, India’s Supreme Court halted the plan because of political disagreements and concerns about introducing a non-native species. Opponents argued the plan was not about moving cheetahs to their natural range. In 2020, the Supreme Court allowed the government to test cheetah reintroduction in India. India signed a memorandum of understanding with Namibia in 2020 as part of Project Cheetah. In July 2022, it was announced that eight cheetahs would be transferred from Namibia to India in August. The cheetahs were released into Kuno National Park on September 17, 2022. Since their arrival, they gave birth to 17 cubs. However, by September 2024, eight adult cheetahs and four cubs had died.

Interaction with humans

Cheetahs have been easily tamed by nobility for a very long time. The earliest known pictures of cheetahs are from the Chauvet Cave in France, dating back to about 32,000 to 26,000 years ago. Historians like Heinz Friederichs and Burchard Brentjes believe cheetahs were first tamed in Sumer, a region in ancient Mesopotamia, and this practice later spread to central and northern Africa, then to India. Evidence for this includes a Sumerian seal from around 3000 BC showing a long-legged, leashed animal, which some think might be a cheetah. However, Thomas Allsen suggests the animal could be a large dog. Other historians, such as Frederick Zeuner, believe ancient Egyptians were the first to tame cheetahs, and this practice later spread to central Asia, Iran, and India.

In Egypt, evidence for cheetah taming is stronger. Mafdet, an ancient Egyptian goddess from the First Dynasty (3100–2900 BC), was sometimes shown as a cheetah. Egyptians believed cheetahs helped carry the spirits of dead pharaohs. Reliefs in the Deir el-Bahari temple show an Egyptian expedition to the Land of Punt during the reign of Hatshepsut (1507–1458 BC) that brought back animals called "panthers." During the New Kingdom (16th to 11th centuries BC), cheetahs were common pets for royalty, often wearing ornate collars and leashes. Rock carvings of cheetahs from 2000 to 6000 years ago have been found in Twyfelfontein, but little else is known about cheetah taming in southern Africa.

Pre-Islamic Arabic art from Yemen shows cheetahs being used for hunting. Hunting with cheetahs became more common around the 7th century AD. In the Middle East, cheetahs rode with nobility on special seats on the back of saddles. Taming cheetahs was a long and detailed process that could take up to a year. The Romans may have called cheetahs "leopardos" or "leontopardos," thinking they were a mix of leopards and lions because of the fur patterns on cubs and the difficulty of breeding them in captivity. A Roman mosaic from the 4th century in Lod, Israel, shows a cheetah used for hunting. Cheetahs remained important in the Byzantine period, with "hunting leopards" mentioned in the Cynegetica (283/284 AD).

In eastern Asia, records are unclear because names for leopards and cheetahs were sometimes used interchangeably. The earliest known pictures of cheetahs in eastern Asia are from the Tang dynasty (7th to 10th centuries AD), showing cheetahs tied up or riding horses. Chinese emperors received cheetahs and caracals as gifts. During the 13th and 14th centuries, the Yuan rulers bought many cheetahs from western parts of their empire and Muslim merchants. The Ming dynasty (14th to 17th centuries) continued this practice. Tomb figurines from the Mongol Empire, during Kublai Khan’s reign (1260–1294 AD), show cheetahs on horseback. Mughal ruler Akbar the Great (1556–1605 AD) is said to have kept up to 1000 khasa cheetahs. His son, Jahangir, wrote in his memoirs that only one of these cheetahs gave birth. Mughal rulers trained cheetahs and caracals similarly to western Asians, using them to hunt animals like blackbuck. Overhunting led to a decline in wild cheetah populations in India, so by 1927, cheetahs had to be brought from Africa.

The first cheetah in a zoo was at the Zoological Society of London in 1829. Early captive cheetahs had high death rates, living only 3–4 years on average. After laws like CITES limited the trade of wild cheetahs in 1975, efforts to breed them in captivity improved. By 2014, there were about 1730 captive cheetahs worldwide, with 87% born in captivity.

Captive cheetahs often have high mortality rates. In 2014, 23% of captive cheetahs died before one year old, mostly within a month of birth. While a 1985 study found cheetah cub mortality (24%) was lower than the average of 33% for 17 carnivore species, it was the second lowest among cats. Causes of death include stillbirths, birth defects, maternal neglect, and diseases. Cheetahs are more vulnerable to stress-related illnesses in captivity, likely due to low genetic diversity and the challenges of captive life. Common cheetah diseases include feline herpesvirus, feline infectious peritonitis, gastroenteritis, glomerulosclerosis, leukoencephalopathy, myelopathy, nephrosclerosis, and veno-