Almost 70 years after the Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) went extinct in India, eight cheetahs from Namibia and 12 from South Africa were introduced into the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh in September 2022 and February 2023, respectively. The intent was to establish a free-ranging population of cheetahs belonging to the sub-species, Acinonyx jubatus.
Now, three scientists from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, Germany, have pointed out serious shortcomings in the reintroduction plan. The cheetahs have been introduced in an unfenced area of about 750 sq. km. in the Kuno National Park. This area is surrounded by villages with livestock farmers.
Using only the prey density in the national park, the carrying capacity for cheetahs was calculated to be 21, which translates into three cheetahs per 100 sq km.
Writing in the journal, Conservation Science and Practice, the researchers point out that such “high cheetah densities have not been recorded for other free-ranging African cheetah population roaming in unfenced areas”.
Instead, just one cheetah is present per 100 sq km of unfenced area. Even in prey-rich landscapes such as the Maasai Mara in Kenya, the cheetah density is just about one per 100 sq km.
Spatial tactics
According to the researchers, the socio-spatial organisation of cheetahs is such that adult cheetah males will have two distinct spatial tactics — either territory holders or floaters. And the territories will be distributed in the landscape with a separation distance of 20-23 km.
The large areas between the territories will not be defended by any males, but instead will be used by females and floaters.
Of the eight cheetahs brought from Namibia, three are males, and these three cheetahs will establish a separate territory for themselves and each territory will be separated by 20-23 km. The researchers predict that irrespective of the territory size, the three males will occupy the entire national park, leaving no space for additional territories for males introduced from South Africa.
Of the 12 cheetahs brought from South Africa, seven are males. This will mean that the male cheetahs will be forced to settle outside the Kuno National Park.
“We predict that additional males brought in or born in the Kuno National Park will settle at a distance of about 20-23 km away from the established territories,” they write.
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They say that while the process of establishing territories in a new area is currently not known, there are initial findings that reintroduced cheetahs undertake long forays over an area of several thousand sq km in the first six months after translocation. The researchers predict that the eight cheetahs will move outside the park during their exploration phase and could potentially come into conflict with livestock farmers.
“If India further follows their plans of establishing a meta-population in their country by introducing cheetahs to several parks in India, we argue that the socio-spatial organisation of cheetahs needs to be considered,” they write. “Our predictive approach has the potential of tackling pro-actively farmer-cheetah conflicts, enhancing our knowledge of cheetahs establishing territories in new areas and to assess the success of potential future trans-continental introductions.”
