Research overview: the Asiatic cheetah's last stand in Iran

The Asiatic cheetah, once ranging across southwest and central Asia, now survives only in Iran, where it numbers a critically small number of individuals scattered across vast arid landscapes. This overview surveys research on this last population, which is genetically distinct from African cheetahs and on the verge of extinction. Studies document its tiny size, fragmentation across central Iranian reserves, and the threats of prey depletion, habitat degradation, poaching, and collisions with vehicles. Researchers rely on camera trapping and tracking to monitor the few remaining animals and to inform protection. International cooperation has been complicated by political and funding constraints. The overview frames the Asiatic cheetah as one of the most endangered cats in the world, a relict lineage whose survival hangs on protecting a handful of animals and the desert ecosystems they depend on within a single country.