The Palpur-Kuno sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh will see Cheetahs reintroduced by December of this year or early January of the next. The Cheetahs are to be introduced from Namibia. Conservationists from Namibia and India have visited the 344.86 sq km sanctuary and have worked out a strategy for the reintroduction. Shahgarh in Rajasthan is another site shortlisted for the reintroduction. However, locals there have opposed the relocation. Palpur-Kuno was also shortlisted for translocation of lions from Gir sanctuary. However, Gujarat … Read More
Molecular Ecology Article Calls Cheetah Reintroduction Project Genetically Flawed
An article in the esteemed journal Molecular Ecology has stated that African Cheetahs are genetically very different from their Asiatic Counterpart and hence has started a debate on the government’s ambitious Rs. 300 crore Cheetah reintroduction project. The article states that “Asiatic Cheetahs are unambiguously separated from African subspecies” with divergence estimates placing the split at “32,000 to 67,000 years ago”. The Asiatic subspecies is severely threatened with only 70-110 individuals existing in Iran. However, the African subspecies is present … Read More
Cheetah reintroduction faces delays
The proposed reintroduction of the Asiatic Cheetah in the Shahgarh Bulge region in Jaisalmer District of Rajasthan faces delays as both administrative and the political department has expressed reservations. The Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot met Union Minister for Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh on his visit to Rajasthan and conveyed that the local population was apprehensive of the fast moving animal, which they had never seen. He also conveyed that the surrounding area is under exploration for oil and natural … Read More
Chimera of Cheetah Reintroduction
Cheetah is the only mammal which has become extinct in India since 1947. However, a section of natural historians believes that India did not have an indigenous cheetah population and it was introduced by the Moguls who brought them from Iran for hunting purposes. And though there are depictions of a cheetah-like animal in prehistoric cave paintings here, some think that it might just be a leopard.
This debate will persist. But our government has decided to reintroduce the cheetah. … Read More
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