Slim, graceful, and powerful, cheetahs can’t help but capture our imaginations. Some cheetah facts are well known, such their famed ability to run up to 70 miles an hour (a speed they can reach in just four seconds). Or their gorgeous spotted coat and graceful movements. These are all things we’ve all seen and marveled over in wildlife documentaries. But there are some more interesting facts about this big cat that may surprise you.

Let’s start with the cheetah’s beautiful spotted coat. You might imagine that it would feel as soft and silky as a housecat’s. But in reality, the cheetah’s coat is rough and prickly… not pleasant to the touch at all. And while not nice on your fingertips, this is a good thing for the cheetah-- it saves the big cat from being hunted for its fur. Another of the more surprising cheetah facts is the cheetah’s lifestyle. If you’ve seen documentaries about lions, you might imagine that cheetahs live much the same way-- the females group together, live together, and hunt together. Sound about right?

In reality, the cheetah’s lifestyle works in exactly the opposite way. Female cheetahs are incredibly solitary creatures. They live alone and generally die alone, spending their lives ranging across massive distances. Female cheetahs only looking for companionship to mate and have cubs. One of the most interesting cheetah facts is how the males live-- unlike females, male cheetahs live in groups of siblings, and they hunt together and spend their lives together.

A Species in Danger

Like many of the world’s big cats, the cheetah is an endangered species. About 100 years ago, there were 100,000 or so cheetahs on the planet; as of the 1970’s there were about 30,000. The most disturbing of cheetah facts? The number of them that remain today. Today, the world’s population of cheetahs is a tiny 12,500-- less than half of their number in 1970.

Why are cheetahs so endangered? Here’s one of the cheetah facts you probably already know: the most significant contributor to the reduction in their numbers is man. But another part of the reason why it’s so difficult to increase the cheetah population lies with the cheetah itself-- cheetahs are not very fertile, and don’t breed well in captivity. In the past, birth rates were practically zero, and the few cubs that resulted from breeding programs tended to die. Wildlife biologists are just learning how to breed them with any sort of success.

Despite conservationists’ efforts, the world’s population of cheetahs is steadily diminishing. To learn more cheetah facts and educate yourself about protecting these beautiful big cats, visit the Smithsonian Magazine.