The Asiatic cheetah ("cheetah" from Hindi चीता cītā, derived from Sanskrit word chitraka meaning "speckled") (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) is now also known as the Iranian cheetah, as the world's last few are known to survive mostly in Iran. Although recently presumed to be extinct in India, it is also known as the Indian cheetah. During British colonial times in India it was famous by the name of hunting leopard, a name derived from the ones that were kept in captivity in large numbers by the Indian royalty to hunt wild antelopes with. (In some languages all cheetah species are still called exactly that; i.e. Dutch: jachtluipaard.)
The Asiatic cheetah is a critically endangered subspecies of the cheetah found today only in Iran, with some occasional sightings in Balochistan, Pakistan. It lives in its vast central desert in fragmented pieces of remaining suitable habitat. Although once common, the animal was driven to extinction in other parts of Southwest Asia from Arabia to India including Afghanistan. Estimates based on field surveys over ten years indicate a remaining population of 70 to 100 Asiatic cheetahs, most of them in Iran.
The Asiatic cheetah separated from its African relative between 32,000 and 67,000 years ago. Along with the Eurasian Lynx and the Persian Leopard, it is one of three remaining species of large cats in Iran today.
Read more about Asiatic Cheetah: Anatomy and Morphology, Evolutionary History, Conservation, Russia–Iran Re-population Project
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