The pretty spotted cat that is known for being the fastest land mammal on the planet and has long been the subject of absolute fascination is now alarmingly close to becoming extinct. The incredibly fierce and nimble cheetah, has an astonishing acceleration of 0 to 60 miles an hour in just three seconds, currently has an IUCN Red List Status of Vulnerable with less than 7,000 remaining in the wild, a 50 percent dip from a 1975 assessment, and is still in a rapid and active decline.

Less than 5 percent of cubs survive to adulthood and the latest cheetah census predicts that we will lose an additional 53 percent of the globe’s cheetahs over the course of the next 15 years. This prognosis coupled with the current trend of a backsliding populace, suggests that by the end of this century the cheetah will have disappeared entirely.