CHEETAH REINTRODUCTION
- February 27, 2022
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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CHEETAH REINTRODUCTION
TOPIC: Environment
Context- An expert team of wildlife officials from Madhya Pradesh, the Indian Forest Department and the Wildlife Institute of India that visited Namibia but a formal Memorandum of Under standing (MoU) regarding the transfer is yet to be signed.
Concept-
Action Plan for Reintroduction of cheetah in India:
- With help from the Wildlife Institute of India and the Wildlife Trust of India, the ministry of Environment will be translocating around 10-12 young cheetahs from Namibia ,South Africa and Botswana.
- These countries have the world’s largest populations of the animal.
- The proposed site for introduction is the Kuno Pal pur National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh, though at least three other reserves in Central India are being considered.
- The Kuno National Park was also supposed to be a site for the Asiatic Lion that is now confined to Gir.
About Cheetah:
- The cheetah, Acinonyxjubatus, is one of the oldest of the big cat species, with ancestors that can be traced back more than five million years to the Miocene era.
- The cheetah is also the world’s fastest land mammal.
- It is listed as vulnerable in IUCN red listed species.
- The country’s last spotted feline died in Chhattisgarh in 1947. Later, the cheetah — which is the fastest land animal — was declared extinct in India in 1952.
- The Asiatic cheetah is classified as a “critically endangered” species by the IUCN Red List is believed to survive only in Iran.
*** For further information Please refer to DPN 16 February 2022.