About 10,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age, cheetahs still lived on three continents : Asia, Europe and Africa. It was around this time that they disappeared from Europe and that their population was considerably diminished for reasons still unclear. This decrease has resulted in many matings between related felines. Millennia later, further accentuated by the pressure that man puts on the species, consanguinity remains a serious threat.