page_title: Southeast African cheetah
section_title: Conservation status
hierarchical_section_title: Southeast African cheetah / Conservation status
caption_attribution_description: Cheetah Conservation Fund
context_page_description: The Southeast African cheetah is the nominate cheetah subspecies native to East and Southern Africa. The Southern African cheetah lives mainly in the lowland areas and deserts of the Kalahari, the savannahs of Okavango Delta, and the grasslands of the Transvaal region in South Africa. In Namibia, cheetahs are mostly found in farmlands.
context_section_description: Previously estimated at a population of 4,190 individuals in Southern Africa since 2007, the total population of the Southern cheetah has likely reached over 6,000 individuals, with Namibia having the largest cheetah population worldwide. Since 1990, the population was estimated to be about 2,500 individuals in Namibia; until 2015, the cheetah population has  increased to more than 3,500 in the country. Botswana contains the second-largest population of cheetahs - in 2007, an estimated population of 1,800. However, in 2016, about 2,000 cheetahs were in Botswana, which is about 20% of the world's cheetahs. Around 550 to 850 cheetahs were left in South Africa in 2007. After many conservation efforts, the cheetah population has boosted to more than 1,000. In 2013, the estimated population was between 1,200 and 1,300 cheetahs in South Africa. Whilst an estimated that 1,500 adult cheetahs live in South Africa since 2016, the Endangered Wildlife Trust stated that the total population ranges between 1,166 and 1,742 cheetahs in South Africa alone in 2017. In Zimbabwe, on the contrary, the cheetahs' population has severely declined, from more than 1,500 cheetahs since 1999 to 400 cheetahs in 2007, to between 150 and 170 cheetahs as of 2015. In 2007, around 100 individuals remained in Zambia and between 50 and 90 were left in Mozambique.
  Several conservation projects for the cheetah species exist in African countries and Iran. Like the Asiatic cheetah, the Southern cheetah got more attention from people than other subspecies.
  Three cheetah subspecies are included on the IUCN list of vulnerable species (three African subspecies threatened, Northwest African and Asiatic subspecies in critical condition), as well as on the US Endangered Species Act: threatened species - Appendix I of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species).
  Founded in Namibia in 1990, the Cheetah Conservation Fund's mission is to be the world's resource charged with protecting the cheetah and to ensure its future. The organization works with all stakeholders within the cheetah's ecosystem to develop best practices in research, education, and ecology, and create a sustainable model from which all other species, including people, will benefit. Around 12,400 cheetahs were estimated to remain in the wild in 25 African countries. Recently, 6,674 mature individuals were found by the IUCN; Namibia has the most, with more than 3,500, of which 90% of them are living outside of protected areas. Breeding programs have been successful, including the use of in vitro fertilization, in zoos around the world.
  The cheetahs are known to be poor breeders in captivity, though several organizations, such as the De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Centre, have succeeded in breeding high numbers of cheetah cubs. In 2009, the centre has bred more than 800 cubs.
caption: Cheetahs of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, Namibia
exif: {"Image Make": "EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY", "Image Model": "KODAK EASYSHARE CX6200 DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "230", "Image YResolution": "230", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS3 Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2011:06:16 13:45:39", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "260", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "946", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6830", "EXIF ExposureTime": "3501/1000000", "EXIF FNumber": "9/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2004:01:25 15:08:23", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2004:01:25 15:08:23", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "251/100", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "163/20", "EXIF ApertureValue": "433/100", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "433/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "499/100", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1632", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1088", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "820", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "100", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "38", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}