By Sarah Griffiths for MailOnline. Scientists have sequenced the genome of a cheetah named Chewbaaka to discover 11 genes have mutated over the generations, to give the cat its blistering speed. A combination of the cheetah's elongated legs, slim aerodynamic skulls, enlarged heart and semi-retractable claws that grip the earth 'like a runner's shoes' allow it to race after prey.

A stock image of a cheetah running is shown. The research was carried out by an international team of researchers from the Theodosius Dobzhansky Centre for Genome Bioinformatics at St Petersburg State University in Russia, BGI-Shenzhen in China and the Cheetah Conservation Fund.

Chewbaaka was rescued as a day orphan in Namibia and went on to live for 16 years - twice that of the average cheetah living in the wild. They found that three million years since the cheetah first appeared, 11 genes have mutated to increase the cheetah's muscle contraction and stress response, increasing their ability to run incredibly fast.

The DNA study also revealed the cheetah has less than five per cent of the genomic diversity of other wild cats, meaning it is at a disadvantage when it comes to producing healthy offspring and fighting disease. This chart shows how it measures up to other species when it comes to genetic diversity. Smaller and leaner than the other big cats, the cheetah weighs just lbs 50 to 64kg making it light and agile.

Now scientists have found 11 genes have mutated to increase the cheetah's muscle contraction and stress response, for example. A total of five genes 'with signatures of selection' - ADORA1, RGS2, SCN5A, ADRA1 and CACNA1C - were found to relate fo the regulation of the heart and muscle contraction. Two genes - TAOK2 and ADORA1 were involved with stress response, while certain genetic duplications suggested 'gene regions and plausible gene candidates that might influence cheetah energetics, nutrition and sensory adaptations.

Despite their ability to hunt prey at speed, there are only 10, cheetahs living in southern and eastern Africa today — and it's not because they are going hungry.

A combination of the cheetah's elongated legs, slim aerodynamic skulls, enlarged heart and semi-retractable claws that grip the earth 'like a runner's shoes' allow it to race after prey stock image shown. This level is much lower than domestic cats, which have been selectively bred by humans to give them distinctive characteristics, such as particularly fluffy coat. The word cheetah comes from the Sanskrit word 'chitraka' meaning 'the spotted one'.

The big cat is a diurnal hunter and uses its spotted coat to hide effectively in the long grasses on open grasslands of eastern and south western Africa. The cheetah is threatened because of a lack of genetic diversity, loss of habitat and persecution by poachers, the WWF reported. The cat can only be seen in the Serengeti National Park, Masai Mara National Reserve and other parts of Tanzania, Kenya and Namibia. The cheetah is listed as 'vulnerable' in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

The problem has been suspected for decades, with experts reporting high mortality rates among cubs and unusual levels of tolerance to skin grafts than within less genetically monotonous species.

But the sequencing of the animal's genome has also given scientists a glimpse of the chain of events over thousands of years that's led to the lack of genetic diversity. They were able to pinpoint two big events that reduced genetic diversity, with the first occurringyears ago. At this time, the big cats lived alongside the puma in what is now North America, before migrating across the Bering Strait into Asia and then to Africa where they live today.

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The journey was 'punctuated by regular population reduction as well as limiting gene flow through territory protection,' the study added, meaning cheetahs had to resort to interbreeding to survive. The second event between 11, and 12, years ago was the global extinction event in the Pleistocene epoch, which again caused cheetah populations to collapse, forcing them to interbreed again.

The sequencing of the animal's genome has given scientists a glimpse of the chain of events over thousands of years that led to its lack of genetic diversity. This graph shows the cheetah's diversity black compared to the Siberian tiger yellow Bengal tiger navyeast African wildcat red and domestic cat light blue. Despite these disasters, cheetahs have managed to escape extinction and at the height of their success, numbered hundreds of thousands.

However, they now only number 10, with habitat loss and poachers posing more challenges as city index forex as genetics. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. How 60 sec binary options brokers metatrader cheetah got its SPEED: But how did it become so fast?

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