Once upon a time, India was also home to the ‘Cheetah’ world’s fastest land animal but this species lost its existence from the Indian region due to poaching activities. Now, the time seems to come for this cat to make comeback to India.
If everything goes well, Eight Cheetah’s including five males and three females will be brought to India from South Africa in the month of November this year. These Cheetah’s will make journey of 8,405 kilo meters to reach India from South Africa. Bringing these wildlives from one continent to another is first its kind in the world so far.
The habitat of Cheetah’s lost its existance from India fifty years ago due to the poaching activities. Yadavendradev Jhala, dean of the wildlife institute of India shared this information with media. He said ‘Finally we have the resources and habitat to rentroduce the cat’.
According to the BBC report, the black spotted coats and teardrop marks, the cheetah is a sleek animal, racing across grasslands at speeds touching 70 miles an hour to capture prey. The cat is also a remarkably athletic animal, braking, ducking and diving as it goes for the kill. The vast majority of the 7,000 cheetahs in the world are now found in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. The endangered cat was reportedly last sighted in India in 1967-68, but their numbers had vastly dwindled by 1900. Now, Three sites – a national park and two wildlife sanctuaries – in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have been identified for reintroducing the cheetah.
The first cheetah in the world to be bred in captivity was in India during the rule of the Mughal emperor Jahangir in 16th Century. His father, Akbar, recorded there were 10,000 cheetahs during his time, including 1,000 of them in his court. The animals were imported for sport in the 20th Century. Research showed that there were at least 230 cheetahs in the wild between 1799 and 1968. It is the only large mammal to become extinct since Independence in India.
