Endangered Species paragraph 1

    The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is a wild cat found scattered around in small parts of Africa and in Iran. It is famous for being the fastest land animal on the planet, reaching speeds up to 75 miles per hour. There are five subspecies; four that are African and one that is Asian. According to a research paper titled The global decline of cheetah and what it means for conservation by Sarah M. Durant and her team, the cheetah’s historic range was most of Africa (excluding parts of central Africa, Egypt, and Madagascar) and the Middle East into India. Today, cheetahs have lost 98% of their range in Asia, and the Asian Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) is critically endangered with an estimated 50 individuals. In Africa, the remaining four subspecies live only on 13% of the land they once inhabited, causing the Northwest African Cheetah subspecies (Acinonyx jubatus hecki) to also become critically endangered. As of 2014, the known cheetah population is about 6700 individuals over 29 subpopulations (Durant).