{"id":14490,"date":"2021-03-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-22T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/uncategorized\/22-03-2021\/reintroduction-of-cheetahs\/"},"modified":"2021-03-22T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-03-22T00:00:00","slug":"reintroduction-of-cheetahs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/22-03-2021\/reintroduction-of-cheetahs","title":{"rendered":"Reintroduction of Cheetahs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>In News<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>India will receive its first batch of cheetahs from Africa by the end of 2021.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>About<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>As part of the programme, two experts, one from <strong>Namibia<\/strong> and the other from<strong> South Africa <\/strong>the two countries with the highest cheetah populations in the world, will arrive to train Indian forest officers and wildlife experts on handling, breeding, rehabilitation, medical treatment and conservation of the animals.<\/li>\n<li>This is the f<strong>irst time in the world<\/strong> that a large carnivore will be relocated from <strong>one continent to another.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Reintroduction<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u2018Reintroduction\u2019 of a species means releasing it in an area where it is capable of surviving.<\/li>\n<li>Reintroductions of large carnivores have increasingly been recognised as a strategy to conserve threatened species and restore ecosystem functions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Causes of Extinction <\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Human-wildlife conflict, loss of habitat and loss of prey, and illegal trafficking.<\/li>\n<li>Emphasis on agriculture eventually led to less forest land, and climate change are major contributors.<\/li>\n<li>The Cheetahs are believed to have disappeared from the country when Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo of Koriya hunted and shot the last three recorded Asiatic cheetahs in India in 1947.<\/li>\n<li>It was declared extinct by the government in 1952.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>India\u2019s effort related to relocation of Cheetahs<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>This isn\u2019t the first time that India has attempted relocation of the cheetah.\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0In the early 1970s, negotiations were carried out with Iran on behalf of the Indira <strong>Gandhi administration.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Assessed sites<\/strong>-Mukundara Hills Tiger Reserve and Shergarh Wildlife Sanctuary in Rajasthan and Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary, Kuno National Park, Madhav National Park and Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh.\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Kuno National Park<\/strong> is identified for the relocation.<\/li>\n<li>The site has been monitored since 2006 and identified for <strong>relocating the Asiatic Lion. <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Significance of Reintroducing Cheetahs<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A section of conservationists has long advocated the <strong>reintroduction of the species<\/strong> in the country.<\/li>\n<li>It is recognised as a strategy to conserve <strong>threatened species and restore ecosystem functions. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The cheetah is the only<strong> large carnivore<\/strong> that has been<strong> extirpated<\/strong>, mainly by <strong>over-hunting in India in historical times.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0India now has the <strong>economic ability<\/strong> to <strong>consider restoring<\/strong> its <strong>lost natural heritage<\/strong> for <strong>ethical as well as ecological reasons<\/strong>.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The conservation of the cheetah will <strong>revive grasslands<\/strong> and <strong>their biomes<\/strong> and habitat, <strong>much like Project Tige<\/strong>r has done for forests and all the species that have seen their <strong>numbers go up.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<table border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"width:735px\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"background-color:#fff2cc; width:6.5in\">\n<p><strong>Kuno National Park<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Kuno National Park of Madhya Pradesh is one the most unique destination for all wildlife lovers and enthusiasts<\/li>\n<li>It has a healthy population of chital, sambar, nilgai, wild pig, chinkara and cattle. Currently, the leopard and striped hyena are the only larger carnivores within the National Park, with the lone tiger having returned to Ranthambore earlier this year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<table border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"width:735px\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"background-color:#fff2cc; width:3.25in\">\n<p><strong>Asiatic Cheetah<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>IUCN status<\/strong>: The Asiatic cheetah is classified as a \u201ccritically endangered\u201d species by the IUCN Red List.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Status in India<\/strong>: The Asiatic Cheetah was declared extinct in India in 1952.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Distribution<\/strong>\u2013 They are only 40-50 and found only in Iran.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Characteristics<\/strong>\u2013 Smaller and paler than the African cheetah.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cfstatic.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/file_library\/mix_content\/881966707667139100_image.jpg\" style=\"height:175px; margin-left:30px; margin-right:30px; width:152px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.deviantart.com\/legend-tony980\/art\/African-and-Asiatic-cheetah-502237436\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">(Image Source):<\/a>deviantart.com<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td style=\"background-color:#fff2cc; width:3.25in\">\n<p><strong>African Cheetah<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>IUCN status<\/strong>: They are vulnerable under the IUCN Red List.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Distribution:<\/strong> Around 6,500-7,000 African cheetahs present in the wild.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Characteristics<\/strong>: They are bigger in size as compared to Asiatic Cheetah.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cfstatic.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/file_library\/mix_content\/744533442624657000_image.jpg\" style=\"height:182px; margin-left:30px; margin-right:30px; width:158px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.deviantart.com\/legend-tony980\/art\/African-and-Asiatic-cheetah-502237436\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">(Image Source):<\/a>deviantart.com<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In News India will receive its first batch of cheetahs from Africa by the end of 2021. About As part of the programme, two experts, one from Namibia and the other from South Africa the two countries with the highest cheetah populations in the world, will arrive to train Indian forest officers and wildlife experts [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[36,26,42],"class_list":["post-14490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs","tag-conservation","tag-gs-3","tag-literature"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2023\/07\/3516561current-affairs.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}