That cheetahs exist anywhere is a miracle in itself. About ten to twelve thousand years ago, the species went through a genetic "bottleneck" when, for some unknown reason, at least 99 percent of the entire world population of cheetahs died in a very short time period. Some scientists have even suggested that the population might have gotten as low as one pregnant female. By comparison, there are between 30 and 50 Florida Panthers left and they are so inbred that the cubs are starting to be born with heart defects.
As a result of the population crash, and the subsequent inbreeding, a male cheetah has a sperm count that is 90 percent lower than tigers' and lions'. On top of that, 75 percent of the sperm that IS produced is abnormal. If cheetahs were livestock, they would be classified as infertile.
Modern cheetahs are as genetically identical as lab mice...virtual clones...which is why it is particularly interesting that an aberrant coat pattern of the King(Cooper) Cheetah appeared.
Normal colored Cheetah above.In 1986 Mitchell Bush, Stephen J. O'Brien, and David E. Wildt published an extraordinary paper based on their studies of Cheetah genetics, that was earth shattering at the time. I suggest reading this excerpt JSTOR: Surprising Cheetah Genetics for a better understanding. I have noted a severe deterioration physically of the King Cheetah compared to 8X10's that were given to me in 1984 by a Curator at the Cincinnati Zoo of the first 3 King Cheetah captured and sent to De Wildt. In order to "isolate" or "set" a particular charecteristic a common practice is to "line breed". With out a large enough genetic base the most practical solution is "inbreeding". Given what the learned gentleman above discovered, is the King Cheetah a practical, worthwhile conservation effort? I have also noted a decline in physical charecteristics of the Champagne lion in a relativley short time of breeding them. More so then I noted in the breeding of White Tigers. They improved physically over many years of selective breeding, where as I note again a decline in King Cheetahs and Champagne lions.
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There is absolutely positively no justification for breeding for "King Cheetahs," nor to the best of my knowledge is it endorsed in the SSP Cheetah. There are several very successful cheetah programs out there in places like Oregon, and the field work in Namibia has been outstanding -- but there's no sound science to suggest that maintaining long term genetic viability in a species noted for its limited genetic pool means attempting to preserve aberrants. (I'm no fan of white tiger projects for that matter, but at least we know they exist outside of any claim of "conservation" or species preservation.)
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