Botswana Cheetah released in MP's Gandhi Sagar park, Pg7

Key Highlights:

• Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav released CCB-2, a female cheetah from Botswana, into Gandhi Sagar National Park on Sunday.
• This relocation aims to establish Gandhi Sagar National Park as a second home for cheetahs in India and facilitate breeding.
• Gandhi Sagar National Park now hosts four cheetahs, comprising two males and two females.
• The move is part of Project Cheetah, a significant conservation effort to reintroduce cheetahs in India.
• An India-born female cheetah, KGP12, recently gave birth to four cubs at Kuno National Park, increasing India's total cheetah population to 56.

Detailed Insights:

• CCB-2 was relocated from Kuno National Park to Gandhi Sagar National Park to address mating challenges among the existing cheetahs at the latter site.
• Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary, located in the Mandsaur-Neemuch region along the Madhya Pradesh-Rajasthan border, was notified in 1974 and became India's second cheetah habitat in April 2025.
• The Chambal River flows through Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary, dividing it into two parts.
• Project Cheetah aims to establish self-sustaining breeding populations, restore grassland and savanna ecosystems, and use cheetahs as a flagship species for conservation.
• Cheetahs were declared extinct in India in 1952, making Project Cheetah a landmark intercontinental translocation effort.
• The birth of second-generation cubs to KGP12 at Kuno National Park signifies successful adaptation and natural breeding within the Indian environment.
• Kuno National Park was the first site for cheetah reintroduction in India, with the initial batch of cheetahs released in September 2022.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Project Cheetah: India's national program launched in 2022 to reintroduce cheetahs, which became extinct in the country in 1952, through intercontinental translocation.
• National Park: An area strictly protected by the government for the conservation of entire ecosystems, with minimal human activity allowed.
• Wildlife Sanctuary: A protected area that allows some regulated human activities, often focusing on the conservation of specific species or habitats.