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3 unusual facts about Asiatic cheetah


Asiatic cheetah

In September 2009, at a cheetah reintroduction workshop organized in India, Stephen J. O'Brien asserted that the African and Asiatic cheetahs were genetically identical and had separated only 5,000 years ago.

In September 2009, Stephen J. O'Brien from the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity of the National Cancer Institute said that the Asiatic cheetah was genetically identical to the African cheetah and had separated about 5,000 years ago – not enough time for a sub-species level differentiation.

On 1 February 2014, the Iranian national football team announced the addition of the endangered Asiatic cheetah on their 2014 FIFA World Cup kits in order to bring attention to its conservation efforts.



see also

Cheetah reintroduction in India

Stephen J O'Brien, world's leading conservation geneticist and Chief of the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), USA, has clarified that there is no significant genetic difference between the African and the Iran's Asiatic cheetah, as per genetic research carried out by him African and Indian cheetahs were only separated just some 5,000 years ago which is not enough for a sub-species level differentiation.

However, at a Cheetah reintroduction workshop organised in India on 9 September 2009, Stephen J. O'Brien from Laboratory of Genomic Diversity of National Cancer Institute, USA who has in the past conducted numerous prestigious genetic studies - including those on Asiatic lions - said that according to the latest modern genetic studies, it was discovered that the Asiatic cheetah was, in fact, genetically identical to the African Cheetah with which it had separated only about 5000 years ago.