Cheetahs experienced a bottleneck effect around 10,000 years ago, a point where their population was reduced to very low numbers and the remaining animals became inbred. At present cheetahs are endangered. The reasons being overexploitation, habitat loss and

Low genetic diversity is one of the reasons for endangerment of cheetahs. Without genetic variation, a population cannot evolve in response to changing environmental variables and, as a result, may face an increased risk of extinction. For example, if a population is exposed to a new disease, selection will act on genes for resistance to the disease if they exist in the population. Cheetahs experienced a genetic bottleneck effect around 10,000 years ago.