Context: 

A wildlife scientist has said that the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh, which currently hosts 20 cheetahs brought in from Africa, does not have enough prey to sustain all the animals.

About the news:

• As present, there are about 20 chital — the cheetah’s main prey — per square kilometre available at the KNP, a sharp decline from the nearly 60 chital per square km that could be found in the park in 2014
• This, at the most, would sustain 15 animals, and five ought to have been shifted elsewhere. 
• Unlike the Gangasagar and the Nauradehi wildlife sanctuaries (in Madhya Pradesh), which will take at least a year and investments worth ₹750 crore to be made suitable for the cheetah to stay, Mukundara can immediately accommodate them.

Project Cheetah: 

• The introduction of cheetahs in India is being done under Project Cheetah, which is the world’s first intercontinental large wild carnivore translocation project.
• Coexistence approach: India has opted for this approach. It is even more unique because this is the first time cheetahs will be reintroduced in an unfenced protected area (PA).
• Introduction of Cheetahs: Eight cheetahs from Namibia and 12 from South Africa were transported to India between September 2022 and February 2023 as part of an initiative to reintroduce the species to India, where the cheetah population had gone extinct in the early 1950s.

Kuno National Park:

• Kuno National Park is a national park in MP established in 1981 as a wildlife sanctuary. 
  • In 2018, it was given the status of a national park. 
• It is part of the Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests.
• Kuno-Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary is underway to become India’s second home for the Asiatic lion. 

News Source: The Hindu

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