Cheetah Population Hits 60 As Kuno Cheetah Gives Birth To Five Cubs

Female cheetah KJP21, born on Indian soil, on Monday gave birth to five cubs in the Kuno National Park of Madhya Pradesh, taking the population of the endangered wild animal species to 60 in India.

The birth of these five cubs to the 32-month-old KJP21, significantly, marks the beginning of the Botswana lineage in India, as their father is a male cheetah from Botswana, adding a new genetic lineage to India’s growing cheetah population.

KJP21, was born to Namibian female cheetah, Jwala.

“This is a monumental milestone in India’s cheetah project, launched four years ago”, a senior forest officer, involved in the project, said.

Sharing the development in a post on social media platform X, Union minister for environment, forest and climate change Bhupendra Yadav said that KJP21 is the third India-born female cheetah to mother cubs in Kuno after Mukhi and KGP12.

“The development marks an important milestone in the emergence of the next generation of India’s cheetah population”, he said.

With the arrival of these five cubs, the India-born cheetah population grows to 41.

“Another generation born on Indian soil, adding yet another beautiful chapter to the remarkable story of cheetah reintroduction in India”, the Union minister said in his post.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav has also hailed the development calling it a ‘significant development’ in India’s cheetah project.

In another development, the third home of cheetahs in India, Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary, is set to open in the current week with the relocation of four cheetahs- two females and two males- from Kuno, a senior forest officer told this newspaper, unwilling to be quoted.

After Kuno, Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh has become the second home of cheetahs.

Four cheetahs- two males and two females- were shifted to the Gandhi Sagar from Kuno a year and a half ago.

India’s cheetah reintroduction project was launched with translocation of eight cheetahs from Namibia to Kuno in September 2022 and of 12 more cheetahs from South Africa to Kuno six months later.

In February this year, nine cheetahs were translocated from Botswana to Kuno.