News Highlight
Over 70 years after it went extinct in India, the cheetah will return to the country on September 17 under Cheetah Reintroduction.
Key Takeaways
- Eight African cheetahs from Namibia — five females and three males between the ages of 4-6 years — will be flown 8,000 km over the Indian Ocean to the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, where they will be released as part of India’s Rs 90-crore Cheetah Introduction project.
Cheetah in India
- The cheetah has an ancient history in the country, with a having been found at Chaturbhuj Nala in Mandsaur, Madhya PradesNeolithic cave painting of a slender spotted feline being hunted.
- The animal was found from Jaipur and Lucknow in the north to Mysore in the south, and from Kathiawar in the west to Deogarh in the east.
- 1947: The Cheetah is believed to have disappeared from the Indian landscape when the Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo of Koriya is believed to have hunted and shot the last three recorded Asiatic cheetahs in India
- 1952: Indian Government declared the Cheetah extinct in the country.
How did cheetahs go extinct in India?
- Over-hunting was a major contributing factor to the cheetah’s extinction.
- Extinction (killing) of its relatively narrow prey base species and loss of its grassland-forest habitat also played a role.
- India’s emphasis on agriculture – which included acquiring and parcelling off grassland – led to a decline in the cheetah’s habitat.
African Cheetah Introduction Project in India
- The goal of the Programme:
- To establish a viable cheetah metapopulation in India that allows the big cat species to perform its functional role as a top predator
- To provide space for its expansion within its historical range, thereby contributing to its global conservation efforts.
- The Wildlife Institute of India at Dehradun had prepared a ₹260-crore cheetah re-introduction project seven years ago.
- India has plans to reintroduce cheetahs at the Kuno National Park in the Sheopur and Morena districts of Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior-Chambal region.
- This could be the world’s first inter-continental cheetah translocation project.
Timeline of Cheetah introduction Program
Why Kuno National Park for Cheetah reintroduction
- Kuno is once Home to Cheetahs
- Has Ideal Vegetation for cheetahs to ambush and hunt
- Kuno national park has a good prey base for cheetahs, comprising the four-horned antelope, chinkara, nilgai, wild pig, spotted deer and sambar
- Only one village that’s being relocated
What Next?
- Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change has launched the ‘Action Plan for Introduction of Cheetah in India’ under which 50 big cats will be introduced in the next five years.
- The action plan was launched at the 19th meeting of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
Cheetah
- The cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus, is one of the oldest big cat species, with ancestors that can be traced back more than five million years to the Miocene era.
- The cheetah is also the world’s fastest land mammal.
- Difference Between Asiatic and African Cheetah
| African cheetah | Asiatic cheetah | |
| IUCN status | Vulnerable | Critically Endangered |
| Habitat | Around 6,500-7,000 African cheetahs are present in the wild | 40-50 found only in Iran |
| appearance | Bigger in size as compared to Asiatic Cheetah | Smaller and paler than African cheetah. More fur, smaller head and longer neck |
Pic Courtesy: freepik
Content Source: Indian Express