There are now 26 cheetahs in Kuno National Park, including 13 cubs
South African cheetah Gamini with her cubs. Photo: @byadavbjp / X (formerly Twitter) South African cheetah Gamini has given birth to five cubs, Union Minister for environment, forest & climate change Bhupender Yadav announced on March 10, 2024. There are now 26 cheetahs in Kuno National Park (KNP), Madhya Pradesh, including 13 cubs born on Indian soil, the minister said.
High Five, Kuno!
— Bhupender Yadav (मोदी का परिवार) (@byadavbjp) March 10, 2024
Female cheetah Gamini, age about 5 years, brought from Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, South Africa, has given birth to 5 cubs today.
This takes the tally of the Indian born cubs to 13. This is the fourth cheetah litter on Indian soil and the first litter of… pic.twitter.com/2II0QIc7LY
This is the fourth cheetah litter in KNP and first one of South African Cheetahs. Earlier this year, Namibian cheetahs Aasha and Jwala (previously known as Siyaya) had given birth.
Read more: Captive for months, experts fear cheetahs at Kuno may face breeding issues
This was the second time Jwala has given birth — in March 2023, she was the first to produce four cubs in India. However, just one female cub survived in the litter. Researchers earlier claimed that the three cubs died as a result of officials’ negligence. According to reports, the cubs died from starvation, heat and dehydration, as well as maggot infection, all of which could have been avoided with proper monitoring.
In 2022, India welcomed eight cheetahs from Namibia as part of Project Cheetah, which was launched on September 17, 2022. Following that, in February 2023, an additional 12 cheetahs from South Africa were translocated and released into Kuno National Park.
Namibian cheetah Shaurya was reported dead on January 16, 2023 while undergoing treatment from veterinarians.
Read more: Are cheetahs at home?
Government officials and those involved in Project Cheetah hail it as a huge success, with more than half of the introduced cheetahs surviving. But wildlife experts and scientists believe there is little to cheer about the progress of the introduction project. Despite spending months on Indian soil, the cheetahs are not truly living in the wild, they opine.
A wildlife expert had earlier shared concerns that South African cheetahs were not being intoduced for mating. The expert had also raised concerns on why the cheetahs are not being released and kept confined to enclosure for months.
“It is good for females to keep breeding, but why the delay in releasing cheetahs in free-ranging conditions?” the expert had told Down To Earth.
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