Sunday, 13 Oct, 2024
By: Yash Gupte
The Kuno-Palpur National Park in Madhya Pradesh is all set to welcome the fastest sprinters on the planet today. The eight cheetahs arrived in MP’s national park from the African country of Namibia as a part of an intercontinental translocation project under an agreement signed between India and Namibia earlier this year after 12 years of negotiations.
The Kuno-Palpur National Park in Madhya Pradesh is all set to welcome the fastest sprinters on the planet today. The eight cheetahs arrived in MP’s national park from the African country of Namibia as a part of an intercontinental translocation project under an agreement signed between India and Namibia earlier this year after 12 years of negotiations. The eight big cats include five females and three males. On Thursday, a modified passenger B747 Jumbo Jet with the face of a tiger landed in Windhoek, Namibia, to transport the big cats. The plane took off from Windhoek's Hosea Kutako International Airport, carrying eight Namibian wild cheetahs, five females and three males. Instead of landing in Jaipur as planned, the cargo flight landed in Gwalior early this morning.
The cheetahs were released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Madhya Pradesh’s national park at around 12:00 noon. The Prime Minister's release of wild Cheetahs in Kuno National Park is a part of his efforts to help revive and diversify India's wildlife and its habitat. In 1952, the cheetah was declared extinct in India. The cheetah is being introduced into India as part of Project Cheetah, the world's first inter-continental large wild carnivore translocation project. Namibia will be sending total 50 cheetahs to India over the next five years. Experts are of the opinion that the Indian climate is suitable for the rapid growth in population of cheetahs over the years.
The Kuno national park in Madhya Pradesh is home to wide variety of flora and fauna. Kuno National Park which is mainly dominated by Kardhai, Salai, Khair trees among the mixed forests, supports a wide variety of both floral and faunal species. It has a rich biodiversity having a total of 123 species of trees, 71 species of shrubs, 32 species of climbers & exotic species, 34 species of bamboos and grasses, 33 species of mammals, 206 species of birds, 14 species of fishes, 33 species of reptiles and 10 species of amphibians. Chousingha or Four-horned antilope, Gaur or Indian Bison, Sloth bear, Striped Hyena and Barking deer or Indian Muntjac are some of the main animals found in the Kuno national park.
The number of cheetahs in the world has been decreasing at an alarming rate. The chart below shows the number of cheetahs over the years.
Cheetahs, one of the oldest big cat species with ancestors dating back to about 8.5 million years, were once widely dispersed throughout Asia and Africa. Until the 20th century, Cheetahs roamed all the way from Israel, the Arabian Peninsula to Iran, Afghanistan and India. In India, they ranged as far south as the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. It is believed that that there were nearly 10,000 Asiatic cheetahs at one point of time. However, over the years, the species reported rapid decline in India. The big cat was a favorite hunting trophy for the kings and was often kept by the princes to hunt gazelle and blackbucks. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the species was heading for extinction in India. The big cat was last spotted in the country in 1952 in eastern Madhya Pradesh.
Worldwide, the cheetah has been driven out of 91 percent of its historic range. As a result of human development, cheetah numbers are estimated to have dropped from 100,000 in 1900 to 7,100 in 2016. Their population is now confined predominantly to six African countries: Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, and Mozambique. A small population of the big cat resides in Iran.
Cheetahs are listed as “Vulnerable” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species and with the population on continuous decline there is a call from conservationist to up list it to Endangered.”
