[ajmat]

I really feel sorry for the Adivasi farmers being forced to relocate

https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/arti...-adivasis-out/

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by RashmiRathi

After reading so many books and stories, I couldn't find a single story of hunt related to wild lion or cheetah in India.
Around 10 years ago, I came accross a book whose basic premise was lions and cheetahs are not indigenous to India but they were exported from Africa for various menageries of Indian kingdoms. Some of them escaped their enclosures and turned feral but they were always limited to very small geographical regions...that kinds of explain the whole reason why we don't see any cheetah or lion hunt stories in Indian Shikar...

Err... Just looks like some kind of 'theory' I guess. I am no wildlife expert either.

Both the Asiatic lion and Asiatic Cheetah are well documented sub species and I don't know why one should think otherwise.

Regarding their absence from 'shikhari' literature. Let me add my two paisa of theories. Maybe the British Empire didn't want the lion, an emblem of their Empire to be vilified, unlike the out of control, wild, native tiger. Also lions were confined to the western parts of the country while tigers are found everywhere. And I believe Jim Corbett hunted near the Himalayan foothills, not a place one would find lions. Cheetahs? There are far more bigger cats that would turn man eater in India than the cheetah. So hunting them wasn't something they cared to put in literature.

[Gansan]

I am fairly optimistic the project will succeed. I think the Cheetah sub species has been carefully chosen. They will need to adapt to a new environment of course, but I think they will. But the question is how they will fare if there are leapords or may be even tigers around. I guess in Africa they share the habitat with leopards and lions?

I read sometime back some tigers were intoduced into the African savannah where they have quickly adapted, started hunting new prey and are thriving. So this kind of project is not entirely new.

As for the former project to import Cheetahs from Iran, I read Iran wanted some of our lions in exchange to introduce into their forests, which India was not in favour of.

[Venkatesh]

Amul special doodle

8 big cats brought back to India, 70 years after local extinction!

[dragracer567]

Originally Posted by RashmiRathi

Around 10 years ago, I came accross a book whose basic premise was lions and cheetahs are not indigenous to India but they were exported from Africa for various menageries of Indian kingdoms. Some of them escaped their enclosures and turned feral but they were always limited to very small geographical regions.

Not really. The Asiatic Cheetah separated from its African counterparts atleast 32,000 years ago while the Asiatic lion had separated around 128,000 years ago. Forget Indian kingdoms, this was long before even agriculture was invented!

Also in terms of range, the Asiatic Cheetah was distributed between the Arabian Peninsula all the way to the southernmost tip of South India. Really tells you something about the destructive capability of humans that they were able to drive an animal with such a wide distribution and ecological importance into extinction within a few centuries!

[RashmiRathi]

Since this comment elicited so many response, so here is the cover page of the book I mentioned.

[dailydriver]

Flipping through the pages of a book called The History of India for Children Vol 2 - (Page 46) (Archana Garodia Gupta & Shruti Garodia, Hachette India, 2018), I came across these lines:

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by RashmiRathi

I was intrigued by the absence of any reference to Lions and Cheetah in Shikar literature.

Forget Shikar literature, there are plenty of references to lions, tigers and leopards in ancient Sangam literature, two thousand years ago. May be not cheetahs, probably because they used the same vernacular name for both leopards and cheetahs. For example in Tamil a single name is used to denote both.

Plenty of ancient emperors from various parts of India used the term "lion" as a title. Lions are found on the Ashoka pillar! The medieval Cholas and the later Cholas who ruled from about 850 CE to 1280 CE assumed the title of lion (Kesari) upon coronation, as a prefix to their given name. Successive kings had the title "Raja Kesari" and "Para kesari" alternatively.

Lions of India probably share their genetics with African lions and might have arrived from Africa, but that must have been during pre-historic times in the form of migration.

[mallumowgli]

Just hope this endeavor succeeds. Lots of challenges including exists like -

Most importantly how they are planning to tackle inbreeding. Maybe they will transport cheetahs back and forth from Namibia. Hugely expensive - but that seems to be the only option.

Threats from Leopards and more critically, feral dogs will also be there

I sincerely hope that this is not just a political exercise and the experts would have thought of all situations

But the biggest worry - or personally, disappointment - is that, Kuno sanctuary was being primed for introducing Gir Lions. Now what will happen to them? They are much more vulnerable now

[Dieseltuned]

Being an hopeless optimist, here's wishing a grand success to Project Cheetah, India did it earlier with Project Tiger and my optimism stems from the fact that our forest officials would have learnt a lesson or two from the project tiger to make this one a success.

This is a first trans continental experiment to re-introduce the species and I am sure all due diligence related to area, habitat, prey, climate, etc.

Along with the GoI and GoN the CCF also had a role to play in this experiment.

https://cheetah.org/

A very detailed article was published by First Post https://www.firstpost.com/explainers...-11266081.html

God speed ahead.

[UD17]

A nice initiative indeed. Balancing ecosystem is a need of hour and that has to done from all direction- reducing carbon footprints, saving jungles, bio-diversity protection, wet/dry land protection etc.

The challenges are plenty for these Cheetah:

1. Adaptation to the terrain, food, heat
2. Survival from wild animal - hyenas, Leopards, wild dogs etc.
3. Survivals from social animal- Human poachers
4. Upkeep, maintenance and red tape of govt. decisions to improve above 3

Hope they survive and we could also take a glimpse of them in future.

[CNMaLin]

The previous attempt at Sakkrbaug Zoo in Gujarat to breed cheetahs in 2009, with two pairs brought in from Singapore, failed.

[man_and_machine]

There is not much of a difference in the genetic make up of African an Asian cheetah. Unlike the lion and elephants, so adaptability should not be very tough. Also the climatic environments are similar, heat, latitude. There is the issue of the cheetahs adapting to the monsoon weather, that only time will tell. The prey type is similar.
It's not a new species that never was in these lands. It's not like a polar bear is being relocated. What matters in the basic heard strength so that mating opportunities, and puppy growth and survival rates are above what is needed to sustain and grow.
If we the humans leave them alone, then they stand a chance. If we start doing deep jungle tours and wild life safari and pass on COVID (pun) to the cats, then no amount of relocation can save them.
I really hope they succeed.

[drbones]

This is the town from where cheetahs had been brought to India


Fantastic Place, and only place on the planet for cheetah rehabilitation. Its a very huge establishment, Best way to know about cheetahs is to work as a volunteer here for a couple of months, only If you are lucky enough to get the opportunity.



Here they rescue domesticated cheetahs from farmers(yes you read it right). Cheetas are the only bigcat that can be domesticated like dogs. Once domesticated they have very little chance of survival in the wild.

This particular cheetah is domesticated, and rescued( took a lot of effort to convince the farmer to let his pet go) from a local farmers house. Its age was 11 yrs when I clicked this pic. cheetahs have a life span of 10-12 yrs in the wild, and can live up to 16-18 yrs in captivity. There are a good number of domesticated cheetas at cheeta conservation fund, which will be permanent resitdents, and are shown to tourist. cheetas which are under rehabilitation to be introduced back in to the wild are kept away from tourists, and with minimal human contact.

[theqca]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Cheetahs were eliminated from India by Rajas and colonial rulers and other VIPs who shot them as part of their big game fun.

The line you posted reminded me of Bittu Sehgal who'd said during a conversation something on the lines of - the enormous amout of damage that our royals have done to wildlife is regrettable. Sad but true.

As a wildlife lover, nature enthusiast and a photographer I hope this venture is successful.

While I might agree partially with most views around - is it suitable / sustainable / chances of success / was it necessary etc etc my thoughts are some efforts are better than no efforts at all.

In fact any effort at this stage is great. Irrespective of whether you feel the move was a political gimmick or out of genuine love for animals or as a scheme to improve tourism. The important thing is there is an effort being made in the right direction.

It’s a small step but a welcome step. Let’s hope we see these efforts being extended to other areas in order to conserve existing species / ecology / forests etc and protect them and give flora / fauna a fair chance to live their life the way they should be living.