Tiny paws, big milestone: 5 cheetah cubs born at MP’s Kuno National Park, India’s count reaches 60 | Bhopal News
BHOPAL: India’s cheetah population crossed another significant milestone on Sunday with the birth of five cubs at Kuno National Park, Sheopur, Madhya Pradesh, taking the country’s total cheetah count to 60, including 41 born in India.The cubs were born to KJP21, a 32-month-old female cheetah born in India, making her the third India-born female to give birth in the country, after Mukhi and KGP12.The development is an important marker in the progress of Project Cheetah, which aims not only to establish a viable cheetah population in India but also to enable the species to breed and sustain itself over successive generations.The birth has an added genetic significance. The father of the five cubs is a male cheetah brought to India from Botswana, making the cubs the first Indian-born cheetahs to carry the Botswana lineage. This adds a new genetic lineage to the growing cheetah population in the country.Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav announced the birth in a post on social media.“KJP21, a 32-month-old Indian-born female cheetah, has given birth to five healthy cubs in Kuno National Park today,” Yadav said in the post.He said KJP21 was the third Indian-born female cheetah to give birth, after Mukhi and KGP12, calling it an important milestone in the emergence of the next generation of India’s cheetah population.“With the arrival of these five cubs, the cheetah population in India has reached 60, including 41 Indian-born cheetahs,” Yadav said.The latest births also underline a shift in Project Cheetah from the initial phase of bringing cheetahs from Africa to India to establishing a self-sustaining population through breeding on Indian soil, say officials.KJP21’s litter takes the number of India-born cheetahs to 41.The mother and cubs will be closely monitored in the coming days. The initial period is considered critical for newborn cheetahs because cub mortality can be high in the wild.Chief minister Mohan Yadav congratulated the veterinarians, forest officials, field staff, park management and others associated with Project Cheetah.The latest litter adds another chapter to India’s cheetah reintroduction programme, which began with the arrival of the first batch of cheetahs from Namibia in September 2022, followed by cheetahs from South Africa.
