One of the saddest things about the cheetah is that globally it now has a very reduced gene pool. This was partly due to human hunting and reduction of habitat in the 20C but probably partly due to an earlier (last Ice Age) reduction of habitat.
There have been large numbers of cheetahs bred in zoos but these have also contributed to reduction of gene pool - despite attempts to cross breed with other populations and even capture of wild animals for interbreeding!
The implications are that climate change and other human activity could mean that all cheetah end up with the same genotype and thus be extremely prone to disease etc..
All very sad .....
