Kuno, Oct 5 — A 32-month-old India-born female cheetah gave birth to five healthy cubs at Kuno National Park on Monday, taking the total cheetah population in India to 60, including 41 Indian-born cheetahs, said Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, celebrating the success of Project Cheetah.
Female cheetah, identified as KJP21, gave birth to the cubs, taking the total cheetah population in India to 60, including 41 India-born cheetahs, said Yadav.
Sharing the development in a post on social media platform X, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Yadav said that KJP21 is the third India-born female cheetah to give birth, after Mukhi and KGP12.
He said the development marks an important milestone in the emergence of the next generation of India’s cheetah population.
Yadav said the birth of the five cubs also marks the beginning of the Botswana lineage in India, as their father is a Botswanan male cheetah. He said this adds a new genetic lineage to India’s growing cheetah population.
The Union Minister described the development as another generation of cheetahs born on Indian soil, adding a new chapter to the story of cheetah reintroduction in India.
Yadav congratulated veterinarians, field staff, managers and everyone associated with Project Cheetah, whose dedication, commitment and tireless efforts have made the development possible.
Project Cheetah is a pioneering initiative aimed at reintroducing the cheetah in India after its extinction in the country. The programme was initiated through the translocation of a founder population of 20 cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa, which was further supplemented by 9 cheetahs from Botswana, through coordinated international cooperation and scientific planning.
The project has recorded encouraging outcomes despite the inherent challenges associated with wildlife translocation, the statement said.
The growing numbers of cheetahs under the project reflect significant growth driven by successful acclimatisation and reproduction in Indian conditions.
Survival rates of introduced individuals and cubs have been found to be in line with, and in certain cases better than, global benchmarks, demonstrating the effectiveness of scientific management and monitoring protocols.
The implementation strategy adopts a landscape-based approach for long-term sustainability. Kuno National Park has been developed as the primary site for establishment of the population. At the same time, Gandhisagar Wildlife Sanctuary has been prepared as an additional habitat to support further expansion, the statement said.
These sites are part of a larger interconnected landscape across central India to facilitate dispersal and genetic exchange. Preparatory work is also underway to expand the project to new areas, including the Banni grasslands in Gujarat, where habitat readiness and prey augmentation measures have reached satisfactory levels, it said.
Scientific monitoring indicates that cheetahs are adapting well to Indian conditions, with stable ranging behaviour, effective prey utilisation, and no significant physiological stress observed across different management settings, the statement said.