Why Can't Cheetahs Be Domesticated?

A cheetah will let a total stranger pet it. Some people even sleep outdoors surrounded by tame ones. Egyptian nobles kept them on leashes. One Mughal emperor reportedly kept thousands for hunting. So why, after thousands of years of taming individual cheetahs, has the species never actually been domesticated? The answer comes down to a genetic bottleneck from roughly 12,000 years ago — and it still makes captive breeding difficult today. Taking the curve too fast, the beer delivery truck tipped over right on the road, spilling hundreds of crates across the entire width of the street. 0:00 A stranger pets a cheetah 0:48 Thousands of years of royal hunting cats 1:51 Tame is not the same as domesticated 3:15 Why breeding them in captivity is so hard 7:39 What actually decides the species' future New answer every week. Subscribe so you don't miss one. #cheetah #wildlife #animalfacts