A cheetah introduced from South Africa on the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Almost 70 years after the Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) went extinct in India, eight cheetahs from Namibia and 12 from South Africa have been introduced into the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh in September 2022 and February 2023, respectively. The intent was to ascertain a free-ranging inhabitants of cheetahs belonging to the sub-species, Acinonyx jubatus.
Now, three scientists from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, Germany, have identified critical shortcomings within the reintroduction plan. The cheetahs have been introduced in an unfenced space of about 750 sq. km. within the Kuno National Park. This space is surrounded by villages with livestock farmers.
Using solely the prey density within the nationwide park, the carrying capability for cheetahs was calculated to be 21, which interprets into three cheetahs per 100 sq km.
Writing within the journal, Conservation Science and Practice, the researchers level out that such “high cheetah densities have not been recorded for other free-ranging African cheetah population roaming in unfenced areas”.
Instead, only one cheetah is current per 100 sq km of unfenced space. Even in prey-rich landscapes such because the Maasai Mara in Kenya, the cheetah density is nearly one per 100 sq km.
Spatial techniques
According to the researchers, the socio-spatial organisation of cheetahs is such that grownup cheetah males can have two distinct spatial techniques — both territory holders or floaters. And the territories will likely be distributed within the panorama with a separation distance of 20-23 km.
The massive areas between the territories won’t be defended by any males, however as an alternative will likely be utilized by females and floaters.
Of the eight cheetahs introduced from Namibia, three are males, and these three cheetahs will set up a separate territory for themselves and every territory will likely be separated by 20-23 km. The researchers predict that regardless of the territory measurement, the three males will occupy your entire nationwide park, leaving no house for extra territories for males introduced from South Africa.
Of the 12 cheetahs introduced from South Africa, seven are males. This will imply that the male cheetahs will likely be pressured to settle exterior the Kuno National Park.
“We predict that additional males brought in or born in the Kuno National Park will settle at a distance of about 20-23 km away from the established territories,” they write.
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They say that whereas the method of creating territories in a brand new space is at the moment not identified, there are preliminary findings that reintroduced cheetahs undertake lengthy forays over an space of a number of thousand sq km within the first six months after translocation. The researchers predict that the eight cheetahs will transfer exterior the park throughout their exploration section and will doubtlessly come into battle with livestock farmers.
“If India further follows their plans of establishing a meta-population in their country by introducing cheetahs to several parks in India, we argue that the socio-spatial organisation of cheetahs needs to be considered,” they write. “Our predictive approach has the potential of tackling pro-actively farmer-cheetah conflicts, enhancing our knowledge of cheetahs establishing territories in new areas and to assess the success of potential future trans-continental introductions.”
