Asiatic cheetah

Asiatic cheetah[1]
An Asiatic cheetah in Iran.
Conservation status
Critically Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[2]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Felidae
Genus:	Acinonyx
Species:	A. jubatus
Trinomial name
Acinonyx jubatus venaticus
A. j. venaticus range (green)

The Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) is a critically endangered subspecies of the cheetah native to Asia.

It is also called the Iranian cheetah because the only living Asiatic cheetahs live in Iran. It is now extinct in India, but during British colonial times in India it was the famous hunting leopard.^[3] This name came about because some of these animals were kept captive by Indian royalty and used to hunt wild antelope.

1. ↑ Wozencraft, W. Christopher (2005). "Order Carnivora (pp. 532-628)". In Wilson, Don E; Reeder, DeeAnn M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: a taxonomic and geographic reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols. p. 533. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494. Archived from the original on 2011-06-24. Retrieved 2011-06-18.
2. ↑ Jowkar H. et cet (2008). "Acinonyx jubatus ssp. ventaticus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2008. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 4 February 2009.
3. ↑ Lydekker R.A. 1893–94. The Royal Natural History. Volume 1.