Research overview: evidence for multiple bottlenecks in cheetah history

Beyond the terminal-Pleistocene crash, researchers have proposed that the cheetah experienced more than one demographic bottleneck, including a possible older, deeper reduction in the ancestral lineage and a more recent regional decline in East African populations. This overview surveys the lines of evidence, including patterns of microsatellite variation, mitochondrial structure, and genome-wide coalescent reconstructions, that have been used to infer multiple constrictions in effective population size. It discusses the debate over the relative roles of ancient versus recent events, the implications for how much diversity could realistically be restored, and the challenges of distinguishing competing demographic models from genetic data alone.