When it comes to cheetahs, many people's first reaction is perhaps the African savannah. But in fact, there is also a subspecies of "Asian cheetah" native to South Asia and the Middle East, and only a small number of remnants exist from central to northern Iran.
If all goes well, eight cheetahs (5 males and 3 females) from Africa will cross the ocean 8,406 kilometres from South Africa in November to their new home in a vast national park in India.
The world's fastest-running land animals, since their extinction from India more than half a century ago, are finally returning to their former homeland.
sand. Jahan hunts Indian blackebeest with trained cheetahs, 1710-15, Udaipur, India.
Collection Source: Cynthia Hazen Polsky donated to celebrate the museum's 150th anniversary in 2019.
"Ultimately, we have the resources and habitat to reintroduce this big cat," said Yadvendradev Jhala, director of the Indian Wildlife Research Institute (WII) and one of the project's experts.
He said that the migration of a large carnivore from one continent to another for conservation was the first attempt in the world.
The cheetah, with its black dot skin and tear marks on its face, is a graceful animal that can reach speeds of 112 km/h when hunting on the savannah.
This big cat has a very strong athletic ability, and when hunting, it can stop, dodge, pounce and other actions in one go.
The vast majority of the more than 7,000 cheetahs in the world are currently found in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.
The big cats were reportedly last seen in India in 1967-68, although their numbers have declined significantly since 1900.
The image belongs to a cheetah of Gaekwad Sayaji Rao III
One national park and two wildlife sanctuaries in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are three bases that will reintroduce cheetahs.
The first eight big cats will settle in The Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, where there is enough prey such as antelope and wild boar.
Wildlife experts are also looking for a tiger sanctuary in Mudundra Hills, Rajasthan as a potential habitat.
Panorama of kuno Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary
Cheetahs in India
The world's first captive cheetah was born in the 16th century during the reign of the Mughal Jahangir.
His father, Akbar the Great, once counted that in his time there were about ten thousand cheetahs in India, including 1,000 raised in his court.
Picture of Akbar the Great with a captured cheetah
This big cat was also introduced in the 20th century as a sporting competition. Studies show that there were at least 230 cheetahs in the Indian wild between 1799 and 1968. It is the only large mammal in India that became extinct after independence
Hunting, shrinking habitat and lack of adequate food (Indian blackebeest, gazelle and hare) contributed to the extinction of this big cat in India.
During British rule, cheetahs were often hunted with bounties because they always entered villages to kill livestock.
India has been trying to reintroduce cheetahs since the 1950s. In the 1970s, India had planned to import 300 cheetahs from Iran, but this was later halted when the Iranian king was deposed.
The Asian cheetah can now only be found in Iran and is currently a critically endangered species
Reintroducing species is always fraught with risks. However, such attempts are not uncommon: in 2017, four cheetahs were introduced to Malawi, where they became extinct in the late 1980s. Today, their number has risen to 24.
The good news: Experts say the cheetah is a very adaptable animal.
South Africa is home to about 60% of the world's cheetahs, and this big cat is found in deserts, dune forests, grasslands, woodlands and mountainous areas, from the low temperature of -15 °C in the Northern Cape province of South Africa to the high temperature of 45 °C in Malawi.
Vincent van der Merwe, a cheetah conservation specialist in South Africa, said: "As long as there is enough prey, habitat is not too restrictive. They survive and reproduce in environments with a high density of prey and live with lions, leopards, spotted hyenas and wild dogs. ”
But there are other concerns: Cheetahs often go into farmland to hunt livestock, triggering conflicts with humans. What's more, this big cat is also a target for other large predators.
"They're actually delicate animals," Dr. Jhala said. "They're good at speed, but they try to avoid head-on clashes."
In South Africa, lions and hyenas account for half of the causes of death of wild cheetahs. Even a group of wild dogs will attack them. Wildlife historian Mahesh Rangarajan said: "Cheetahs can run faster than all cats, but it is difficult to resist their raids. Baby cheetahs are also often taken away by larger cats such as lions. ”
Pictures of cheetah mothers and chietahs, Massemara steppe, Kenya
That's why cheetahs live well in fenced reserves.
"But outside the reserve fence, cheetah populations have been decreasing due to habitat shrinking and retaliatory killings by humans."
But "most of India's protected areas are not fenced, which means potential man-beast conflict." ”
When Mr. van der Merwe came to India in April to evaluate the potential base for the introduction project, he found Kuno National Park to be well suited to cheetah habitat.
This 730 square kilometre park is a mix of woodland and meadows, much like their environment in South Africa. There are also no lions in this park, although there is a need to worry about the presence of leopards.
However, Mr. van der Merwe believes that a fenced tiger sanctuary in the Mukundra Hills would be a better home for cheetahs, where the density of animals that attack cheetahs is lower.
"My gut belief is that it's a protected area that's sure to succeed. It can be used to breed cheetahs, and surplus animals can be introduced into other protected areas. ”
Mukundra Hills
But conservationists in India remain skeptical.
Cheetahs need a large range of activity, they say — an ideal habitat of 5,000 to 10,000 square kilometers.
Dr K Ullas Karanth, one of India's top conservation experts, said the habitats had to be "no one, no dogs, no leopards or tigers" and there had to be plenty of wild prey.
Most of India's former cheetah habitat is dwindling, he said.
"The goal of the reintroduction must be to breed a viable number that allows cheetahs to reproduce on their own in the wild. If you just stock a few animals in the park, it will be useless and will be a failed project. ”
But wildlife scientists like Dr. Jhala remain optimistic about the return of this "iconic species" of the Indian steppe.
"For any reintroduced project, you need at least 20 individuals" and "We are preparing to introduce 40 cheetahs in the next 5 years." ”
Hopefully, everything goes well and in the near future, cheetahs can truly return to India.