CHEETAH REINTRODUCTION

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.