"Not even a swarm of flies disturbs a cheetah's after-dinner catnap. Most delicate of the big cats, cheetahs choose to flee rather than fight when confronted with danger. 'People are their biggest problem,' says [conservationist] Laurie Marker. 'Whether cheetahs thrive in the wild or are lost in our lifetime is ultimately up to us.'"

(Text and photograph from "Cheetahs: Ghosts of the Grasslands," December 1999, National Geographic magazine)