TRANSCONTINENTAL RELOCATION OF CHEETAHS

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• India will be soon releasing cheetahs from South Africa and Namibia into the wild at KunoPalpur in Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh.
• It will initiate India’s ambitious plan of transcontinental relocation of cheetahs.
• The country’s last spotted cheetah died in Chhattisgarh in 1947 and it was declared extinct in the country in 1952.
• The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) some years back prepared a cheetah reintroduction project.
• The cheetah 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 that lives in Africa and Asia.

African Cheetah: 

Scientific Name: AcinonyxJubatus

Characteristics: They have slightly brownish and golden skin which is thicker than the Asiatic Cheetahs.

They have much more prominent spots and lines on their face as compared to their Asian cousins.

Distribution: Found all over the African continent in thousands of numbers.

Protection:

IUCN Red List: Vulnerable.

CITES: Appendix 1.

WPA: Schedule-2.

Asiatic Cheetah: 

Scientific Name: Acinonyx JubatusVenaticus

Characteristic: Slightly smaller than the African Cheetahs.

They have pale yellowish fawn coloured skin with more fur under their body, specifically on the belly.Inserting image…

Distribution: Found only in Iran with less than 100 individuals left.

Protection:

IUCN Red List: critically endangered.

CITES: Appendix 1.

WPA: Schedule-2.

Threats

• Human-wildlife conflict, loss of habitat and loss of prey, and illegal trafficking.
• Deforestation and agriculture eventually led to less forest land and Cheetah habitat.
• The advent of climate change and growing human populations have only made these problems worse.

Indian Conservation Efforts

• The Wildlife Institute of India had prepared aRs 260-crore cheetah Re-introduction project seven years ago.
• This could be the world’s first inter-continental cheetah translocation project.
• The Ministry of Environment had in the 19th meeting of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) released an “Action Plan for Introduction of Cheetah in India”.
• The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has decided to bring 50 African Cheetah from Namibia within the next 5 years.

 SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT