The Asiatic Cheetah ("cheetah" from Hindi चीता cītā, derived from Sanskrit word chitraka meaning "speckled") (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) is now also known as the Iranian Cheetah, as the world's last few are known to survive mostly in Iran. Although recently presumed to be extinct in India, it is also known as the Indian Cheetah. During British colonial times in India it was famous by the name of Hunting-Leopard[3], a name derived from the ones that were kept in captivity in large numbers by the Indian royalty to hunt wild antelopes with.
The Asiatic Cheetah is a rare critically endangered subspecies of the Cheetah found today only in Iran, with some rare chances and very occasional sightings in south western Pakistan. It lives in its vast central desert in fragmented pieces of remaining suitable habitat. In recent times in the last century this once numerous and common animal was driven to extinction elsewhere in its entire former range in Southwest Asia from Arabia to India including Afghanistan; latest research shows that only 70 to 100 Asiatic Cheetahs are estimated to remain, most of them in Iran with some sightings in Pakistan. This is the result of continuous field surveys, all of which have been verified by the results of more than 12,000 nights of camera trapping inside its fragmented Iranian desert habitats during the past 10 years.[4] The Asiatic Cheetah and the Persian Leopard are the only remaining species of large cats in Iran today[5] with the once common Caspian Tiger and Asiatic Lion having already been driven to extinction in the last century; however in the case of Asiatic lions the world's last few continue to exist in India, and genetic research in 2009 found that Caspian tigers are almost identical to Siberian tigers, which remain in the Amur-Ussuri region in far eastern Siberia.
