{"id":38904,"date":"2024-01-04T05:10:28","date_gmt":"2024-01-03T23:40:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=38904"},"modified":"2025-04-23T22:10:52","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T16:40:52","slug":"cheetah-reintroduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/cheetah-reintroduction\/","title":{"rendered":"Cheetah Reintroduction Plan: Namibian Cheetah Aasha gives Birth to 3 Cubs in Kuno"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What\u2019s in Today\u2019s Article?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in News?<\/li>\n<li>What is the Cheetah Reintroduction Plan\/Project Cheetah?<\/li>\n<li>What is the Significance of Bringing Back Cheetahs?<\/li>\n<li>Why are Cheetahs Coming from Southern Africa and Challenges?<\/li>\n<li>News Summary Regarding Acclimatisation of Cheetahs at KNP<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why in News?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Three cubs were born to the Namibian cheetah Aasha at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh\u2019s Sheopur district, indicating that animals are acclimatising.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is the Cheetah Reintroduction Plan\/Project Cheetah?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Discussions to bring the Cheetah back to India were initiated in 2009 by the Wildlife Trust of India.<\/li>\n<li>Under the \u2018Action Plan for Reintroduction of Cheetah in India\u2019, 50 cheetahs will be brought from African countries to various national parks over 5 years.<\/li>\n<li>Most suitable site &#8211; Kuno Palpur National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh:\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 21 Cheetahs and is likely the only wildlife site in the country where villages have been completely relocated from within the park.<\/li>\n<li>Kuno also provides the possibility of harbouring four of India&#8217;s big cats &#8211; tiger, lion, leopard and Cheetah, enabling them to coexist as they have in the past.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The other sites recommended are &#8211; Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary, Madhya Pradesh; Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary &#8211; Bhainsrorgarh Wildlife Sanctuary complex, Madhya Pradesh; Shahgarh bulge in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan; Mukundara Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan.<\/li>\n<li>As part of this project, 20 Cheetahs (8 from Namibia and 12 from South Africa) were Introduced in the KNP (since last year) to establish a free-ranging population for the first time since their extinction in India 70 years ago.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is the Significance of Bringing Back Cheetahs?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Besides conserving the big cat, the initiative in itself is a boon to the ecosystem.<\/li>\n<li>In saving Cheetahs, it is necessary to save not just its prey base (including certain threatened species), but also other endangered species of grasslands.<\/li>\n<li>They are not a threat to humans and do not attack large livestock either.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why are Cheetahs Coming from Southern Africa and Challenges?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Reasons behind re-introducing cheetah from southern Africa:\n<ul>\n<li>The locally extinct Cheetah-subspecies of India is found in Iran and is categorised as critically endangered.<\/li>\n<li>Since it is not possible to source the critically endangered Asiatic Cheetah from Iran without affecting this subspecies, India will source Cheetahs from Southern Africa.<\/li>\n<li>Southern African Cheetahs have the highest observed genetic variety among extant Cheetah lineages, which is critical for a founding population stock.<\/li>\n<li>Furthermore, Southern African Cheetahs have been determined to be the ancestors of all other Cheetah lineages, making them suitable for India&#8217;s reintroduction programme.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Challenges of bringing back Cheetahs:\n<ul>\n<li>Based on the evidence available, it is impossible to conclude that the choice to bring the African Cheetah into India is scientifically sound.<\/li>\n<li>As a result, the Supreme Court of India (in 2020) permitted an experimental release of Cheetahs in a suitable habitat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure class=\"media\">\n<div data-oembed-url=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pWHJXWVq2DA\">\n<div><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pWHJXWVq2DA\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2>News Summary Regarding Acclimatisation of Cheetahs at KNP<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>It was over a year ago, on Sept 17 2022, that 20 cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa were relocated to Kuno National Park. Six have died since March 2023.<\/li>\n<li>Aasha arrived in a crate marked \u201cAasha \u2013 The Hope\u201d. It is said to be a confident animal that has travelled over 200 km after being released into the wild in March last year.<\/li>\n<li>The cheetah has also troubled the wildlife monitoring team in the past \u2013 after it ventured into Shivpuri district. A team which tracked it down to a village was attacked by angry villagers who mistook them for dacoits.<\/li>\n<li>The birth of 3 cubs to Aasha is a roaring success for Project Cheetah, envisioned to restore ecological balance.<\/li>\n<li>The birth of the cubs is an important indicator that the cheetahs are acclimatising to the Indian climate and have made Kuno their habitat.<\/li>\n<li>This is good news for wildlife officials who have been grappling with a string of deaths at Kuno National Park.\n<ul>\n<li>Last year, <u>Namibian cheetah Jwala gave birth to four cubs. However, three of its cubs died in May due to extreme weather conditions<\/u>.<\/li>\n<li>The surviving ten-month-old cub is being looked after by Kuno park officials since its mother rejected it, after it was taken away by wildlife officials for treatment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q1) What is Project Tiger?<\/h3>\n<p>Project Tiger was first initiated on April 1, 1973, from the Jim Corbett National Park, Uttarakhand, under the leadership of Indira Gandhi. The objective of the Project Tiger is clear &#8211; saving Royal Bengal Tigers from getting extinct.<\/p>\n<h3>Q2) What do you mean by acclimatisation?<\/h3>\n<p>Acclimatisation is the process in which an individual organism adjusts to a change in its environment (such as a change in altitude, temperature, humidity, photoperiod, or pH), allowing it to maintain fitness across a range of environmental conditions.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/india\/namibian-cheetah-aasha-gives-birth-to-3-cubs-in-kuno-9093800\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Namibian cheetah Aasha gives birth to 3 cubs in Kuno; \u2018indicator that animals are acclimatising\u2019<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The birth of 3 cubs to Namibian Cheetah Aasha at Kuno National Park is a roaring success for Project Cheetah, envisioned to restore ecological balance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":38905,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-38904","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\/38904","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=38904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}