{"id":36439,"date":"2023-07-19T08:50:20","date_gmt":"2023-07-19T03:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=36439"},"modified":"2025-04-21T20:56:06","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T15:26:06","slug":"death-of-kuno-cheetahs-why-are-kuno-cheetahs-at-extra-risk-due-to-radio-collars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/death-of-kuno-cheetahs-why-are-kuno-cheetahs-at-extra-risk-due-to-radio-collars\/","title":{"rendered":"Reasons for Cheetahs\u2019 Death"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is the Cheetah Reintroduction Plan\/Project Cheetah?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Collaring of Animals<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Reasons for Cheetahs\u2019 Neck Injuries<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Why are Kuno Cheetahs more Vulnerable due to Collars?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Challenges Ahead<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Similar injuries have been noted in at least another three animals after two cheetahs in Kuno died of <strong>suspected septicemia from neck wounds caused by radio collars<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Many people who are accustomed to regularly collaring wild cats for monitoring and research both in India and Africa are puzzled by this <strong>setback for the reintroduction project.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is the Cheetah Reintroduction Plan\/Project Cheetah?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Discussions to bring the Cheetah back to India were initiated in <strong>2009 <\/strong>by the Wildlife Trust of India.<\/li>\n<li>Under the \u2018<strong>Action Plan for Reintroduction of Cheetah in India<\/strong>\u2019, 50 cheetahs will be brought from African countries to various national parks over 5 years.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Most suitable site &#8211; Kuno Palpur National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Amongst the surveyed sites of the central Indian states, KNP has been rated the highest, because of its suitable habitat and adequate prey base.<\/li>\n<li>It is assessed to be capable of supporting <strong>21 <\/strong>Cheetahs and is likely the <strong>only wildlife site in the country<\/strong> where villages have been completely relocated from within the park.<\/li>\n<li>Kuno also provides the possibility of <strong>harbouring four of India&#8217;s big cats<\/strong> &#8211; tiger, lion, leopard and Cheetah, enabling them to coexist as they have in the past.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>The other sites recommended are &#8211; In MP, <\/strong>Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary and Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary &#8211; Bhainsrorgarh Wildlife Sanctuary complex; <strong>In Rajasthan<\/strong>, Shahgarh bulge in Jaisalmer and Mukundara Tiger Reserve.<\/li>\n<li>As part of this project, <strong>20 Cheetahs<\/strong> (8 from Namibia and 12 from South Africa) were Introduced in the KNP to establish a free-ranging population for the first time since their extinction in India 70 years ago.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Collaring of Animals:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Since the 1970s, satellite telemetry<\/strong> has made it possible to monitor individual birds and animals over continental distances.<\/li>\n<li><strong>These tracking devices have become lighter and more sophisticated <\/strong>over time &#8211; so much so that there are <strong>VHF radio telemeters for even insects today<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Globally, the thumb rule is <strong>to keep the weight of a radio collar to less than 3% of the animal\u2019s body weight<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The size of the battery is important <\/strong>&#8211; a lighter one would need replacement sooner, which cannot be done without sedating the animal.<\/li>\n<li>Most modern collars for wild cats weigh around <strong>400 g<\/strong>, which is light enough for cheetahs that typically weigh between 20 kg and 60 kg.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cheetahs are hard to fit collars<\/strong> on as their heads are not much bigger than their necks, especially younger animals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Reasons for Cheetahs\u2019 Neck Injuries in KNP:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>These cheetahs have been wearing these collars for several months in India during the dry periods. <strong>They didn\u2019t have any issues until the monsoon arrived.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The bacterial infections<\/strong> under the collars are <strong>not reported in African conditions where the skin gets a chance to dry completely<\/strong> between spells of rain. Also, rainfall is a lot less in Africa than in India.<\/li>\n<li>So, monsoon or wet weather can be the reason for neck injuries.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media\">\n<div data-oembed-url=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=RdqTWZnZ5nw&amp;t=12s\">\n<div><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RdqTWZnZ5nw?start=12\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2><strong>Why are Kuno Cheetahs more Vulnerable due to Collars?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>\u2018Wet mat\u2019 effect could weaken the skin over time:<\/strong> Cheetahs grow a winter coat. It is more furrier compared to the coats of tigers or leopards and would hold more water and take longer to dry.<\/li>\n<li><strong>3% collar weight rule not factoring in \u201canimal athleticism\u201d:<\/strong> During movement, the forces exerted by collars were generally equivalent to up to five times the collar\u2019s weight for a lion and a massive 18 times for a cheetah.\n<ul>\n<li>This would make a 400 g collar \u2018weigh\u2019 <strong>more than 7 kg on a sprinting cheetah<\/strong> &#8211; a lot of weight to carry on a wet coat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Less immune to local pathogens:<\/strong> These animals could be vulnerable to certain local pathogens to which Indian tigers and leopards may be immune.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Challenges Ahead:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>To track, immobilise, and check <\/strong>all the cheetahs for neck injuries. But putting all the animals <strong>back in Bomas will push the project back by several months<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>There is no roadmap yet for the next monsoon<\/strong>. If these cheetahs are re-released with new radio collars, will they have to be captured again before the next monsoon?<\/li>\n<li><strong>It would be irresponsible to release cheetahs without collars.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1) What is a radio collar?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>A radio collar is a wide band of machine-belting fitted with a small radio transmitter and battery. The transmitter emits a signal at a specific frequency that can be tracked from up to 5 kms away.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2) What is the IUCN status of Cheetah?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Globally, Cheetah species is considered Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, with a declining extant population of less than 7,000 individuals found primarily in the savannahs of Africa.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/why-kuno-cheetahs-are-at-extra-risk-due-to-their-radio-collars-8847183\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Why Kuno cheetahs are at extra risk due to their radio collars<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Death of Kuno Cheetahs can be due to neck injuries as a result of bacterial infections under the collars, which may be caused due to monsoon\/ wet weather<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":36440,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-36439","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}