Newsela: Asiatic Cheetahs are fast disappearing from the wild in Iran
A special breed of cheetah known as the Asiatic cheetah is in danger of disappearing. Only two female Asiatic cheetahs are known to be alive in the wild. They live in Iran, a country in the Middle East.
Asiatic cheetahs are also known as Iranian cheetahs. The cheetah is the fastest animal on Earth. The Asiatic cheetah is endangered, which means that it is seriously at risk of becomingextinct, or dying out.In fact, fewer than 40 are believed to remain in Iran.
Iran has tried to raise awareness of the animal. The country has put pictures of the cheetah on stamps and displayed the cat on its soccer team's uniforms. Still, the Asiatic cheetah has only become more endangered.
Fewer Cheetahs Being Photographed
Iran recently held a national cheetah day. The day marks an event that happened more than 20 years ago when a cheetah cub named Marita survived an attack by a group of villagers. Marita's mother and two siblings were killed, and Marita became a national symbol.
The Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS), a group based in Iran's capital city of Tehran, hopes to help the Asiatic cheetah.Morteza Eslami is the head of ICS.He said that the group has only seen two females in recent months. ICS gathers information using hidden cameras placed in areas with the most Asiatic cheetahs.
“Unfortunately, the number of female cheetahs has been dwindling," Delaram Ashayeri, another conservationist, said.Most of the female cheetahs captured by hidden cameras, he added, are already dead.
In the past 15 years, 48 cheetahs are believed to have died. Seven of these died from natural causes, while 21 died at the hands of farmers. Another 15 were killed in car accidents, and five more were killed as a result of hunting.
Of the two female cheetahs believed to be still alive, one is in Iran's Turan National Park. The other is in the nearby Miandasht Wildlife Refuge.
Eslami said that in some areas, there have been no reports of female cheetahs for at least two years.
Iran's Lion, Tiger Already Gone
Two Asiatic cheetahs, a male and a female, are held at Tehran's Pardisan Park research center. Researchers hope the two will have cubs and boost the population of cheetahs. But so far, the pair have not successfully mated.
Eslami said the fate of Asiatic cheetahs is important. Two other big cats, the Caspian tiger and Persian lion, have already died out in Iran. The Caspian tiger no longer exists anywhere in the world. However, a small population of Persian lions still remains in India.
ICS has asked Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani, to help. The group has asked the president to help stop the construction of new roads and mines close to the areas where the cheetahs live. They have also asked Rouhani to put up fences around existing roads to help prevent car accidents.
"More Needs To Be Done"
ICS hopes to increase the number of people committed to helping the cheetahs. They hope that more people who live in the villages near the cheetahs will learn about the animals and help save them.
“If it wasn’t for the past work of conservationists, cheetahs would have become extinct by now," Eslami said. He added that even though things don't look great for the cheetahs now, scientists still have hope. “But more needs to be done," he said.