[3] The Asiatic cheetah survives in protected areas in the eastern-central arid region of Iran, where the human population density is very low.

[5] In December 2017, fewer than 50 individuals were thought to be remaining in three subpopulations that are scattered over 140,000 km2 (54,000 sq mi) in Iran's central plateau.

Samples of 94 cheetahs for extracting mitochondrial DNA were collected in nine countries from wild, seized and captive individuals and from museum specimen.

[3] Mitochondrial DNA fragments of an Indian and a Southeast African cheetah museum specimens showed that they genetically diverged about 72,000 years ago.

[12] The Asiatic cheetah has a buff-to-light fawn-coloured fur that is paler on the sides, on the front of the muzzle, below the eyes and inner legs.

Small black spots are arranged in lines on the head and nape, but irregularly scattered on body, legs, paws and tail.

[15] It was previously thought that the body temperature of a cheetah increases during a hunt due to high metabolic activity.

The claim was supported by data from experiments in which two cheetahs ran on a treadmill for minutes on end but contradicted by studies in natural settings, which indicate that body temperature stays relatively the same during a hunt.

The Asiatic cheetah mainly inhabits the desert areas around Dasht-e Kavir in the eastern half of Iran, including parts of the Kerman, Khorasan, Semnan, Yazd, Tehran, and Markazi provinces.

[5] In summer 2018, a female cheetah and four cubs were sighted in Touran Wildlife Refuge Iran's Semnan province.

[21] The Asiatic cheetah once ranged from the Arabian Peninsula and Near East to Iran, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan to India.

[29] In Central Asia, uncontrolled hunting of cheetahs and their prey, severe winters and conversion of grassland to areas used for agriculture contributed to the population's decline.

[11] By the 1930s, cheetahs were confined to the Ustyurt plateau and Mangyshlak Peninsula in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and to the foothills of the Kopet Dag mountains and a region in the south of Turkmenistan bordering Iran and Afghanistan.

The last known sightings in the area were in 1957 between the Tejen and Murghab Rivers, in July 1983 in the Ustyurt plateau, and in November 1984 in the Kopet Dag.

[30] Officers of the Badhyz State Nature Reserve did not sight a cheetah in this area until 2014; the border fence between Iran and Turkmenistan might impede dispersal.

[33] In India, the cheetah occurred in Rajputana, Punjab, Sind, and south of the Ganges from Bengal to the northern part of the Deccan Plateau.

It was also present in the Kaimur District, Darrah and other desert regions of Rajasthan and parts of Gujarat and Central India.

[37] In Khar Turan National Park, cheetahs use a wide range of habitats, but prefer areas close to water sources.

[39] Evidence of females successfully raising cubs is scarce and breeding rarely occurs in captivity, which is also typical for other cheetah subspecies.

Manoeuvres with armed vehicles were carried in steppes, and local people hunted cheetahs and prey species unchecked.

[4][35] Reduced gazelle numbers, persecution, land-use change, habitat degradation and fragmentation, and desertification contributed to the decline of the cheetah population.

It is estimated that the two regions for coal (Nayband) and iron (Bafq) have the largest cheetah population outside protected areas.

Mining itself is not a direct threat to the population; road construction and the resulting traffic have made the cheetah accessible to humans, including poachers.

[49] Between 2007 and 2011, six cheetahs, 13 predators and 12 Persian gazelles died in Yazd Province following collisions with vehicles on a transit road.

[4] Personnel of Wildlife Conservation Society and the Iranian Department of Environment started radio-collaring Asiatic cheetahs in February 2007.

[63] Another news report stated that the centre is home to about ten Asiatic cheetahs in a semi-wild environment protected by wire fencing all around.

[67] In May 2022, an Asiatic cheetah gave birth to three male cubs in a facility in Iran; two died shortly after with Pirouz being the lone survivor.