Four Cheetahs Establish Territories In Kuno National Park
“Everything for this release required something special; a notch higher management and careful monitoring. She has made history of sorts (by being comfortable in the wild along with her cubs)”: Forest officer
BHOPAL: Four out of six adult cheetahs which are currently in the free range in the Kuno National Park (NP) in Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district have established their respective territories inside the NP.
This is considered a major development in the maiden cheetah reintroduction project of India, a senior forest officer said on Wednesday.
But what stumped the Kuno forest officers is female cheetah Jwala’s behavior, uncharacteristic of a cheetah, in the wild since the big cat appears not keen to establish her home range in the park and prefers to wander in the open wild forest along with her four cubs.
Jwala and her four cubs (two males and two females) were released into the wild in the Kuno NP on February 21, 2025.
“In the last four months after her release into the open wild forest, she, along with her cubs, became the most travelled cheetahs of Kuno NP. She encircled the northern part of the Kuno wildlife division and adjoining areas twice without much difficulty” field director of Kuno NP Uttam Kumar Sharma told this newspaper.
Their movements in the wild in the last four months show no concrete plan of Jwala to establish her territory and it appears she prefers an open wild forest, Mr. Sharma said.
Significantly, Jwala, the five-year-old Namibian cheetah, has never experienced life in the wild even in her native country.
The forest officers were in fact wondering as to how she will handle the wild of Kuno NP without any previous experience of the wild before her release in the free range in the park.
“Everything for this release required something special; a notch higher management and careful monitoring. She has made history of sorts (by being comfortable in the wild along with her cubs)”, the forest officer said.
Another female cheetah Gamini who is currently in the free range in the NP was released into the wild along with her four cubs on March 17 this year.
She seems to have a penchant for moving in the open forest.
Gamini along with her four cubs have covered four districts outside the boundaries of the NP, namely Sheopur, Shivpuri, Gwalior, and Morena, with ease and appear to be in the exploration phase before establishing their territory.
A coalition of two male cheetahs, Agni and Vayu, was released into the wild in the Kuno NP on December four, 2024.
The pair established their territory in the Palpur area under the Kuno NP.
On February five this year, two female cheetahs Dheera and Aasha along with three male cubs of Aasha were released into the wild in the park.
The mother and her cubs got separated on the first day of their release.
Dheera and Aasha have established their respective territories inside the park.
But Aasha’s three male cubs are roaming in the wild and honing hunting skills on their own by forming a coalition.
Eight cheetahs from Namibia and 12 from South African were brought to Kuno NP in September 2022 and February 2023 respectively under cheetah reintroduction project.
Kuno has a cheetah population of 29.
