Cheetah Rangewide Status and Distribution

The cheetah has experienced a dramatic decline in its distribution, with an estimated adult and adolescent population of 7100 individuals remaining in the wild. Southern and eastern Africa have the largest populations, whereas western, central, and northern Africa have considerably smaller populations as a regional total. In Asia cheetahs are critically endangered, with small populations remaining only in Iran. For many countries, national and regional efforts to map the distribution of cheetahs have identified resident populations and highlighted knowledge gaps in areas that require surveying. Most (67%) cheetahs are found outside protected areas, suggesting that unprotected private and public lands need increased attention when devising cheetah conservation strategies. Conservation of the world’s remaining cheetah populations will require securing the cheetah’s habitat and prey base, reducing the causes of human-mediated mortality, while identifying and securing corridors to connect fragmented populations and enable recolonization. Transfrontier cooperation will be critical for reaching these goals.