Project Cheetah completes one year

• The first batch of eight cheetahs from Namibia arrived on September 17, 2022, officially launching Project Cheetah, India’s cheetah introduction programme.

PROJECT CHEETAH

• The goal of the introduction of African cheetahs is to “establish viable cheetah metapopulation in India that allows the cheetah to perform its functional role as a top predator and provides space for the expansion of the cheetah within its historical range thereby contributing to its global conservation efforts.”
• Translocated to- Kuno National Park, Madhya Pradesh
• Target- 50 Cheetahs to be introduced in various National Parks over five years.
• Project Implementation by: National Tiger Conservation Authority, a statutory body under Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change(MoEFCC).

POPULATION STATUS

• In total, 20 adult African cheetahs have been imported so far– 8 from Namibia and 12 from South Africa.
  • Six of the cheetahs which came from Africa have died. Four while still in captivity and two in the wild.
• In late March 2023, one of the females gave birth to a litter of four cubs which were conceived in India.
  • 3 of the four cubs have died and the only remaining cub is being hand reared as its mother has rejected it.

ABOUT CHEETAHS

• A keystone species of dry forests, scrub forests, and savannahs.
• The cheetah is the fastest land animal.
• Global distribution
  • African Cheetah– Found all over the African continent in thousands of numbers.
  • Asiatic Cheetah- Found only in Iran with less than 100 individuals left.
• African Cheetah is slightly larger than the Asiatic counterpart.
• Protection status
  • IUCN Red list status
    • African Cheetah- Vulnerable
    • Asiatic Cheetah- Critically Endangered
  • CITES –Appendix 1