In Iran sopravvivono appena cento esemplari di ghepardo asiatico, specie minacciata dalla perdita di habitat, dalla riduzione delle prede e dal conflitto con i pastori.
The Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) is one of the fastest creatures on the planet. It can run at more than 90 kilometres per hour and is able to map the surrounding space easily. Yet, its unique speed won’t be enough to save this animal from extinction.
Asiatic cheetahs, which have genetically differentiated from their African cousins more than 30,000 years ago, once roamed Asia far and wide, from Saudi Arabia to India. But today they only survive in Iran. Their numbers have drastically decreased (from about 400 individuals in the 1990’s) due to habitat loss and hunting, which decimated cheetahs’ main preys, gazelles. Conflicts between cheetahs and humans, particularly with shepherds, have increased, contributing to the decline.
The Asiatic cheetah only survives in Iran with only 100 individuals in the wild. The species is one of the most endangered mammals of the planet and is listed as critically endangered by the IUCN Red List. Over the past few years, Iran has intensified efforts to protect cheetahs through conservation and raising awareness projects.
Many individuals are kept in different zoos all over the world in order to preserve their genetic variability and successively reintroduce them back into the wild. “The decline of the species has led to the crossbreed between related individuals, leading the species ever close to extinction,” said Cesare Avesani Zaborra, scientific director of Parco Natura Viva, northern Italy, which is home to Teo, Duma, and Mookane, three male African cheetahs.
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