The rare Asiatic cheetah, already severely endangered, may be in greater danger of extinction than ever before, as conservationists say only two females of the species are known to survive in the only country where it exists: Iran.
Only 40 Asiatic cheetahs remain in the wild, all of them in Iran, the Guardian reports. Conservationists worry that without an adequate female population, they may not be around much longer.
“The situation is very critical,” Morteza Eslami, head of Tehran-based NGO Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) told the Guardian, adding that five years of monitoring have revealed that female numbers in particular have “significantly dropped.”
Read More: See 17 Animals on the Verge of Going Extinct
Despite Iran’s efforts to raise awareness about the animal — through representations on stamps and even the national football team’s attire — 48 cheetahs have died in the country over the past 15 years. Of those, 21 have been killed by farmers, 15 in car accidents, seven from natural causes and five by hunters.
A third female is reportedly in captivity at the Pardisan Park research center in Tehran, but has not yet mated with the male she shares the center with.
[Guardian]
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Eyewitness Accounts From the Trump Rally Shooting
- Politicians Condemn Trump Rally Shooting: ‘No Place for Political Violence in Our Democracy’
- From 2022: How the Threat of Political Violence Is Transforming America
- ‘We’re Living in a Nightmare:’ Inside the Health Crisis of a Texas Bitcoin Town
- Remembering Shannen Doherty , the Quintessential Gen X Girl
- How Often Do You Really Need to Wash Your Sheets?
- Welcome to the Noah Lyles Olympics
- Get Our Paris Olympics Newsletter in Your Inbox
Write to Rishi Iyengar at rishi.iyengar@timeasia.com