Species profile
Acinonyx jubatus
Cheetah
This is a curated published estimate, not a live census. Estimates may refer to mature individuals, wild individuals or a documented range and are not directly comparable between species.
VU · Vulnerable — Vulnerable — high risk of extinction in the wild
About this species
Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is part of the curated SpeciesWatch catalogue and is classified as Vulnerable. A cheetah accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in about three seconds — faster than most sports cars — but can only hold top speed for a few hundred metres. Its recorded population direction is decreasing, so the category needs to be read alongside continuing losses of individuals or local populations.
Habitat, behaviour and ecological role
This profile associates the species with terrestrial, savanna. These labels summarise environments used during different stages of its life rather than drawing an exact range boundary. Cheetahs cannot roar; instead they purr, chirp like birds and even meow — sounds more typical of house cats. Its anatomy and behaviour are responses to those environments, while movement can connect distant places requiring different forms of management.
Why this species is at risk
Their semi-retractable claws act like sprint spikes, and the long tail works as a rudder for hairpin turns at full speed. The catalogue records 3 principal pressures for this profile: Habitat loss, Human-wildlife conflict, Illegal wildlife trade. They should not be treated as isolated causes. Habitat change, exploitation, pollution, disease and climate stress can reinforce one another, while the importance of each pressure varies between regions and through time.
Conservation outlook
Protecting and reconnecting habitat is a priority, together with infrastructure planning that keeps feeding, breeding or migration routes functional. Direct protection needs to combine enforcement with conflict prevention, demand reduction and local benefits that make coexistence viable. Actions need long-term monitoring and revision as evidence changes; a positive intervention in one place does not by itself represent recovery across the species.
Editorial review: 2026-08-21
Threat factors
Known occurrences
Dots are georeferenced occurrence records from OBIS (marine) and GBIF (global), not individual animals and not a complete range map. Up to 500 recent API results are cached; the profile renders at most 500 points.
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