Syllabus
GS Paper 3 Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment
Applications where to apply?
When asked about
Cheetah reintroduction
Biodiversity conservation
Project Cheetah
Context
The recent birth of seven cheetah cubs in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park marks a significant milestone in India’s Project Cheetah, aimed at reintroducing cheetahs to the country.
Source
The Indian Express | Editorial dated 5th February 2024
Seven cheetahs born in Kuno: Challenges, survival chances, and the wild-vs-protected debate
The birth of seven cheetah cubs in Kuno National Park , coupled with the ambitious Project Cheetah, underscores India’s commitment to wildlife conservation and species reintroduction.
Project Cheetah
Project Cheetah is an ambitious initiative launched by the Indian government in September 2022 to reintroduce cheetahs to India after their extinction in the country in 1952.
Goals of Project Cheetah:
- Restore the ecological role of cheetahs in India’s ecosystems.
- Promote conservation efforts for cheetahs globally.
- Contribute to national biodiversity and habitat conservation.
Implementation:
- The project initially involved translocating 20 African cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.
- 8 Namibian cheetahs arrived in September 2022.
- 12 South African cheetahs arrived in February 2023.
- Each group was initially quarantined before being released into larger enclosures within the park.
- Cheetahs are monitored with radio collars to track their movements and health.
Cheetah Cub Development Stages
- Gestation period: According to the Cheetah Conservation Fund, the gestation period for a cheetah is 93 days, and litters range in size from one to six cubs.
- Birth of cheetahs: Cheetah cubs are born blind and helpless, weighing 8.5 to 15 ounces, relying entirely on their mother for care and protection.
- Secluded Nest Phase: The mother cheetah moves the cubs between secluded nests to evade predators, providing warmth, nourishment, and security in the initial days of birth.
- Transition to Active Phase: Around six weeks of age, the cubs start joining their mother in daily travels, learning essential survival skills.
- Playful and Observational Phase: Between four to six months, cheetah cubs become active and playful, climbing tall trees to observe the landscape and potential prey.
- Learning to Hunt: Around one year of age, the cubs begin hunting with their mother, mastering skills like prey detection, stalking, and killing.
- Independence: At about 18 months, cheetah cubs separate from their mother, with male siblings forming coalitions and females leading solitary lives until they bear their own cubs.
Wildlife Officials’ Protocols
- Pregnancy Confirmation: Monitoring the mother’s health and belly scores to confirm pregnancy, ensuring adequate nutrition and minimal stress.
- Intervention: Intervening in cases of neglect or danger to the cubs, such as neglectful maternal behaviour or presence of male cheetahs.
- Rearing Practices: Providing vaccinations, supplements, and maintaining a clean environment to prevent infections during the early stages of cub development.
- Cub Welfare: Balancing the need for human assistance with the importance of allowing natural instincts to guide cub rearing.
Challenges in Implementation
Reintroducing cheetahs to India, like any ambitious conservation project, comes with a myriad of challenges:
Ecological:
- Adaptation: Cheetahs need to adapt to a new environment with different prey species, landscapes, and climates compared to their native African habitat. This adaptation process can be stressful and lead to health issues.
- Survival Rates: Cheetah cub survival rates are low, with first-time mothers often losing their entire first litter.
- Prey availability: Ensuring sufficient prey populations within the park, especially considering cheetahs’ specialized hunting needs, is crucial for their survival.
- Impact of captivity: Concerns regarding stress-related behaviours and reduced reproductive performance in cheetahs raised in captivity. Giving rise to wild vs protected debate.
Social and economic:
- Human-wildlife conflict: Cheetah movement outside the park boundaries could lead to conflicts with local communities, impacting their livestock and livelihoods.
- Resource limitations: Effectively monitoring, protecting, and managing a predator population requires significant resources, including trained personnel, equipment, and infrastructure. Sustainable funding mechanisms are needed for long-term viability.
Sustainable Approaches
- Ecological:
- Habitat improvement: Enhance Kuno National Park’s habitat by increasing prey density, restoring critical vegetation, and creating corridors to connect to other suitable areas.
- Maintaining a delicate balance between predator and prey populations is essential.
- Disease control: Implement robust quarantine procedures, vaccinations, and disease monitoring programs.
- Striking a balance between artificial protection and natural selection to ensure the best chance of survival for cheetah cubs
- Social and economic:
- Community engagement: Develop collaborative conservation programs with local communities, providing livelihood alternatives and sharing benefits from tourism.
- Sustainable funding: Explore long-term funding mechanisms such as public-private partnerships, ecotourism revenue, and international collaboration.
RELATED TOPICS
Project Tiger
The Government of India has taken a pioneering initiative for conserving its national animal, the tiger, by launching the “Project Tiger” in 1973.
Project Tiger is an ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change providing central assistance to the tiger States for tiger conservation in designated tiger reserves.
- From 9 tiger reserves since its formative years, the Project Tiger coverage has increased to 54 at present, spread out in 18 tiger range states. This amounts to around 2.23% of the geographical area of our country.
- Number of tigers increased from 2018 to 2022 (approx. 3682), an annual rise of about 6%, based on all India tiger estimation report.
- The tiger reserves are constituted on a core/buffer strategy. The core areas have the legal status of a national park or a sanctuary, whereas the buffer or peripheral areas are a mix of forest and non-forest land, managed as a multiple use area.
- The Project Tiger aims to foster an exclusive tiger agenda in the core areas of tiger reserves, with an inclusive people oriented agenda in the buffer.
References
https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/one-year-of-project-cheetah-9019478/
https://ntca.gov.in/project-cheetah-kuno-np/
Practice Question
Discuss the challenges and strategies associated with reintroducing cheetahs to India, with a focus on the recent developments in Kuno National Park. [150 words]