Carnivore conservation in human-dominated landscapes requires more than expertise of wildlife biologists
Oban, a male cheetah from Namibia at Kuno National Park. Photo: Cheetah Conservation Fund Science relies on constructive criticism and scientific rigour comes only when it stands tests of critique. Cheetah reintroduction in India has triggered a scientific debate and several critiques have been published in top journals.
Ordinary citizens can only wonder if there was a lack of scientific rigour in the first place or consensus among different carnivore biologists. Or would it have been worth consulting social scientists and environmental historians?
Cheetah went extinct in India around 1958. I first wondered at the scientific decision on cheetah reintroduction while watching an episode on the National Geographic Channel. It showed cheetahs in Africa living in vast open savannah landscapes with very sparse trees, where they hunt gazelle antelopes.
Read more: Please give Project Cheetah some time: Divyabhanusinh
The commentator said cheetahs run at speeds over 80 kilometres per hour or 22 metres per second to catch their prey and the visuals lasted about five to 10 seconds. The possible distance the cheetah would have covered in that time would be around 200 metres.
The cheetahs outmanoeuvred the prey. The hunt was successful. This happened in a landscape without any trees or shrubs as chicane to its speed.
The wild cats primarily preyed on blackbucks in India, distributed abundantly in the north of Narmada valley, noted the distinguished wildlife biologist of colonial times, Edward Pritchard Gee, in a publication.
A few historic footages showed how the cheetah was used for hunting blackbucks by the erstwhile royals of India. The background starkly contrasted the current landscape and showed vast open grasslands with many blackbucks grazing.
Recreating such a scene almost after 70 years in India is a big challenge for wildlife managers, mainly due to the drastic change in landscape over the last 70 years and the population decline of blackbucks.
There has been a high land-use change towards increased agriculture — mainly cotton and other commercial crops — than in the pre-independence period, historian Tirtankhar Roy wrote in his book, Economic History of India 1857-2010.
Another study using historical land records has estimated that the cropland was increased by over 20 million hectares and forests reduced by over 18 million hectares between 1890 and 1950. The rapid changes in the cheetah habitat and loss of its prey could have driven the wild cat to extinction.
Read more: Wildlife translocation programmes benefit if they incorporate human dimensions: Study
The human population in India has almost tripled by now, compared with pre-1950 era. This is associated with severe land use changes and a further decline in the blackbuck population.
The blackbuck population had significantly decreased and there are isolated populations in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, a report by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in 2004 noted. The point to note is Madhya Pradesh (MP) is not mentioned.
The cheetah has been introduced in Kuno National Park in MP, where the habitat is not entirely savannah grasslands but a mix of open scrub and dry deciduous forest, destined initially as a second home for Asiatic lions from the Gir, Gujarat. Further, the primary prey here is the spotted deer chital, not the blackbuck.
Noted carnivore biologist Ravi Chellam and conservationist Valmik Thapar have pointed out there is no suitable habitat for cheetahs to survive in the wild in India.
The lead scientist of WII, who was involved in the reintroduction project, has already batted for alternate sites for the wild cats in Rajasthan. He is no longer part of the revised committee to monitor the cheetah introduction.
The reintroduction critiques by both Indian scientists and the global community have also pointed to spatial and habitat ecology needs of the cheetah and possible conflict with humans and with other carnivores like tigers and leopards when dispersing in large landscapes.
Read more: Adieu, Sasha: Ailing Namibian cheetah in Kuno breathes her last due to renal failure
Carnivore conservation in human-dominated landscapes requires more than the expertise of wildlife biologists and we see many global scientific publications authored by experts from different fields.
It reminds one of the novel Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, where the lead scientist knows that introducing salmon fish in Yemen is unfeasible yet tries it under political pressure. It is unclear whether political pressure overruled scientific decisions regarding cheetah reintroduction in India.
However, it is evident from the ongoing critiques and media reports that there was a lack of scientific rigour and consultation among non-government carnivore biologists and other field experts for the cheetah reintroduction. These lessons must be taken in future conservation approaches.
Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth
Dhanapal is an independent consultant on climate change and environment
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