The cheetah occurs in a variety of habitats such as savannahs in the Serengeti, arid mountain ranges in the Sahara and hilly desert terrain in Iran.
The cheetah is threatened by several factors such as habitat loss, conflict with humans, poaching and high susceptibility to diseases.
Historically ranging throughout most of Sub-Saharan Africa and extending eastward into the Middle East and to central India, the cheetah is now distributed mainly in small,
fragmented populations in central Iran and southern, eastern and northwestern Africa.
In 2016, the global cheetah population was estimated at around 7,100 individuals in the wild;
it is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
In the past, cheetahs were tamed and trained for hunting ungulates.
They have been widely depicted in art, literature, advertising, and animation.