Cheetah Reintroduction Programme

Why in news?

• India and South Africa have signed an agreement to translocate 12 cheetahs to India.

About Cheetah:

• The cheetah is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at 80 to 128 km/h.
• The cheetah occurs in a variety of habitats such as:
  • Savannah grasslands in the Serengeti (Kenya-Tanzania, Africa)
  • Arid mountain ranges in the Sahara and
  • Hilly desert terrain in Iran.
• The cheetah lives in three main social groups: females and their cubs, male "coalitions", and solitary males. While females lead a nomadic life searching for prey in large home ranges, males are more sedentary and instead establish much smaller territories in areas with plentiful prey and access to females.
• The cheetah is active during the day, with peaks during dawn and dusk.
• The cheetah is threatened by several factors such as habitat loss, conflict with humans, poaching and high susceptibility to diseases.
• In 2016, the global cheetah population was estimated at around 7,100 individuals in the wild
• It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
• Asiatic cheetah:
  • It is one among the five  subspecies of Cheetah
  • It is critically endangered as per IUCN, and currently only surviving in Iran.
  • It once occurred from the Arabian Peninsula, Caspian region, Transcaucasus, South Asia etc. but was extirpated in these regions during the 20th century
  • It is smaller and paler than an African cheetah and looks more like a cat with a smaller head and longer neck.

 Cheetah’s Reintroduction Programme:

• In India, the Cheetah’s population got completely wiped out in the early 1950s, mainly due to over-hunting and habitat loss.
• Under the ‘Action Plan for Reintroduction of Cheetah in India’, cheetahs will be brought from African countries to various national parks over the next few years.
• As per agreement, 12 Cheetah’s will be translocated to India from South Africa.
• The Cheetah’s will be reintroduced at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, where eight such cats were brought from Namibia in 2022 under a similar agreement.
• The initial batch of cheetahs from South Africa will be followed by the transport of batches of 12 annually for the next “eight to 10 years”.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

With reference to ‘Cheetah’, consider the following statements:

1. They are largely nocturnal in nature

2. While females lead a nomadic life searching for prey in large home ranges, males are more sedentary.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer