NEW DELHI: The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has noted the recent movement of two cheetahs that have dispersed from Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh to areas in Rajasthan, describing it as natural behaviour. In the coming months, the NTCA will coordinate with the governments of both states to develop a large corridor landscape that encompasses Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, facilitating inter-state movement of the cheetahs.
Recently, cheetahs KP-2 and KP-3 from Kuno National Park were tracked moving into the Baran district of Rajasthan. KP-2 has been located in the Mangrol range of Baran, while KP-3 entered the Banjh Amli Conservation Reserve after travelling 60–70 km from Kuno National Park. The two cheetahs are positioned approximately 6 km apart on either side of the Parvati River.
Both cheetahs are being monitored round the clock through GPS and radio collars by a joint inter-state team, with field teams deployed from the Kishanganj and Anta ranges.
The NTCA stated, "We are actively coordinating with both State Forest Departments and will issue further updates as warranted."
This is not the first instance of cheetahs straying from Kuno National Park. Since their introduction in September 2022, cheetahs have frequently been in the news for moving outside the park into Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. There have also been reports of conflicts with humans in surrounding areas.
In its statement, the NTCA emphasized that long-distance dispersal across landscape boundaries is well documented and represents natural territorial behaviour in cheetahs. The authority also referred to the Action Plan of Project Cheetah, which focuses on the creation of a metapopulation landscape.
Project Cheetah is an initiative by the Indian government aimed at reintroducing the cheetah to its historical range in India, where the species became extinct in 1952. The plan anticipates and facilitates inter-state movement within the Kuno-Gandhi Sagar metapopulation landscape.
The NTCA also highlighted the importance of establishing the Kuno-Gandhi Sagar inter-state wildlife corridor. The proposed corridor aims to connect seven districts in Rajasthan with eight districts in Madhya Pradesh, creating a habitat spread across about 17,000 square kilometres. The initiative seeks to allow safe movement of animals and promote genetic diversity among species in the region.
The reintroduction of cheetahs is considered the world’s first intercontinental large wild carnivore translocation project, involving the relocation of cheetahs from countries such as Namibia, South Africa and recently Botswana to protected areas in India, mainly Kuno National Park, to help re-establish the species and restore the grassland ecosystem.
India has introduced the Southeast African cheetah subspecies, known as Acinonyx jubatus jubatus, which is different from the cheetah subspecies that once lived in the country.
The cheetah that became locally extinct in India was the Asiatic cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus venaticus. The closest surviving population of this subspecies is found only in Iran, with occasional sightings reported in bordering regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.