Pirouz, Persian word for “winner”, is the lone surviving cheetah cub born along with two other cubs from a female cheetah, Iran, on May 1.
One cub was weaker and died soon and another one later died due to improper care.
Iran has, in the past 6 decades, been home to the last known population of Asiatic cheetah, which once roamed across vast swathes of west and south Asian countries.
Listed as critically endangered by the IUCN, the Asiatic cheetah is among the rarest cats in the world, with fewer than 50 believed to remain in Iran.
Roads fragmenting habitats of this animal threaten the species.
Other factors endangering the sparse population of the cheetahs are guard dogs and stray dogs, drought spells, the decreasing population of the prey species, and habitat loss.
