Cheetah Breeding at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute

Cheetahs are the world’s fastest land mammals, capable of sprinting up to 70 miles per hour. But while their speed is in a class of its own, their survival depends on something commonplace for most animals but far from trivial for cheetahs: successful breeding.

At the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI), scientists, veterinarians, and animal keepers are leading global efforts to better understand cheetah reproduction, preserve gene diversity, and give this endangered species a fighting chance at long-term survival. Since the early 2000s, NZCBI’s cheetah experts have worked alongside partners and collaborators to help zoos worldwide improve reproductive success through research, data sharing, and specialized breeding techniques.

Cheetahs once roamed savannahs and grasslands across South Asia, the Middle East, and nearly the entire African continent. Today, due primarily to human activity, the animals have been isolated mostly to southern and eastern Africa. The global population has dropped more than 90 percent since 1900, and the species is now listed as “vulnerable” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

However, the cheetah population began facing hardship well before modern threats emerged. About 12,000 years ago, near the end of the last Ice Age, environmental changes led to a massive population crash known as a “bottleneck” that left cheetahs with extremely low genetic diversity. As a result, today’s cheetahs are very similar to one another genetically, making them more sensitive to environmental changes, disease, and fertility challenges. In the Serengeti plains, home to one of the world‘s largest concentrations of cheetahs, only one in twenty  cubs survives to adulthood. Overall, it remains difficult to predict breeding success, even under expert care.

This is why it is essential that researchers, veterinarians, and zookeepers from around the world coordinate their efforts to help this species. These experts are using the latest advancements in genetics, behavioral science, and reproductive technology to give cheetahs the best possible shot at survival. 

Saving the cheetah requires a firm understanding of their needs and habits, mating behaviors, and physiology. But it was not until the 1970s that these needs became clear.

For most of the 20th century, scientists were unaware of cheetahs’ genetic similarity and did not understand their mating behaviors in the wild. As a result, zoo breeding programs generally failed. But in the late 1970s, a research program led by NZCBI research staffers Drs. Katherine Ralls, Kristen Brugger and Adam Glick, and later carried forward by Dr. Jonathan Ballou, uncovered part of the problem: Widespread inbreeding was taking place among zoo mammal breeding programs. The team published their first findings in 1979.

Then, in the 1980s, Smithsonian scientist David Wildt and his colleagues revealed the Ice Age bottleneck’s negative impact on genetic diversity, thereby explaining the prevalence of inbreeding in zoos. Together, these studies spurred a new era of cooperation and coordination among zoos that has since informed nearly all breeding efforts for countless species.

NZCBI’s Cheetah Breeding Program works to increase pregnancy rates, reduce cub mortality, and support the health and well-being of cheetah populations at the National Zoo and in the wild. Building on the science of conservation genetics, the team's work begins with using genetics to match breeding pairs to produce offspring with the best possible chance of living a healthy life.     

No single zoo manages enough cheetahs to maintain a healthy, diverse population on its own. That’s why many zoos, including NZCBI, participate in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ (AZA’s) Species Survival Plan (SSP). The plan includes listing every cheetah living at AZA-accredited zoos in a carefully managed family tree called a “studbook.” A team of SSP “matchmakers” uses this data to pair cheetahs that are found to be a good genetic match. When a match is found, a cheetah may travel hundreds of miles to meet its potential mate—a move that zoos plan carefully to ensure each new litter strengthens the overall cheetah population.

NZCBI also plays a key role in the Cheetah Breeding Center Coalition,  a group of   ten AZA-accredited zoos working to save this majestic animal through enhanced communication, data sharing, and collaboration, as well as carefully managed breeding and assistance with breeding challenges.

NZCBI’s Front Royal, Virginia campus is home to around 30 cheetahs at any one time.  Closed to the public, this research and breeding facility gives the animals space, quiet, and minimal human disturbance—the conditions cheetahs need to breed successfully.

Here, reproductive scientists apply what they’ve learned about cheetah biology to help the animals produce healthy offspring . They study male and female fertility, monitor hormone levels to predict when females are ready to breed, and use assisted reproductive techniques like in-vitro fertilization and artificial insemination to help pairs conceive when natural breeding isn’t possible. Scientists also research cryopreservation—storing living cells at ultra-low temperatures for future use—to ensure that valuable genetic material can be used for future generations.

Meanwhile, animal care teams work to provide world-class care to support the cheetahs’ day-to-day needs. As part of NZCBI’s enrichment and training program, for example, animal keepers teach the cheetahs behaviors that enable them to voluntarily participate in their own veterinary care, including checkups and tests that support NZCBI’s reproductive health research. Many of the cheetahs are trained to voluntarily receive injections, stand still for radiographs and ultrasounds, accept medications, and present their tails for blood draws and blood pressure readings. The staff also collects urine and fecal samples from the female cheetahs so scientists can study and monitor their hormone levels.  

Since the first litter was born at SCBI in 2010, Smithsonian scientists have celebrated more than 80 cheetah births, making this program one of the most successful in the world.

Cheetahs occupy less than 10 percent of their historical range. Beyond producing a robust population of cheetahs in human care, the National Zoo is also working with partners within the cheetah’s native range to create a more sustainable wild cheetah population.

Dr. Adrienne Crosier leads the AZA’s Saving Animals from Extinction (SAFE) Cheetah program, which aims to strengthen populations in human care while also conserving them across the African landscape, and restore them to their native habitat. As part of this effort, Crosier created a first-of-its-kind cheetah biobank in Namibia—a repository of genetic material from hundreds of wild individuals. 

Since 2002, Crosier has worked with the Cheetah Conservation Fund, led by Smithsonian research fellow Laurie Marker, to train local Namibians on how to collect biological samples from cheetahs and store them in a biobank for future use, which both strengthens population diversity and empowers local communities to play a direct role in protecting cheetahs and their ecosystems. 

Breeding Challenges

Cheetah Sperm Quality
Find out why it is so hard to breed cheetahs

Getting the World’s Fastest Cat to Breed with Speed
How the Smithsonian got cheetahs to start breeding

Matchmaking

Managing an Animal Population? Start With Their Genes
Discover how Zoo experts decide on which animals should breed

How Are Animal Matches Made at the National Zoo?
Finding the right mate for a Zoo animal

How Genomic Science Solved a Cheetah Cub Paternity Mystery
Running a paternity test to identify the cubs’ father

More About the Program

The Decade’s Top 5 Spot-acular Cheetah Program Milestones
Check out the Cheetah Breeding Program’s top milestones of the 2010’s

A Different Kind of Cheetah Coalition
Dive into an important stage in the Cheetah Breeding Program’s history

Harnessing Reproductive Science to Save Cheetahs
Learn about the National Zoo’s efforts to help build a cheetah biobank in Namibia