The three cubs, each aged 1.3 years, have formed a coalition, moving and hunting and exploring the forest together.
Bhopal: Three cheetah cubs were seen moving and hunting together after getting separated from their mother, Aasha, soon after they were released into the wild in the Kuno National Park (NP) in Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district, nine days ago.
The three cubs along with their mother and another female cheetah Dheera were released into the wild in the NP on February five.
“Aasha and her three cubs spent hardly half-a-day together after they were released into the wild in the Kuno NP. Aasha had then started moving separately from her cubs”, additional principal chief conservator of forest (APCCF) and director, Lion Project, Uttam Kumar Sharma who is also the field director of Kuno NP, told this newspaper on Friday.
The three cubs, each aged 1.3 years, have formed a coalition, moving and hunting and exploring the forest together.
“The cubs are regularly hunting chitals”, Mr Sharma said.
The cheetah cubs along with their mother had been kept in a large enclosure in the Kuno NP before being released into the wild.
In fact, the three cubs were seeing other wild animals such as jackal, hyaena for the first time after being released into the wild and hence, the sighting of other wild animals made them curious, a forest officer of the NP said.
“On one occasion, the three cubs had encountered a hyaena in the forest. But they did not appear to be intimidated by the sight of the wild animal and they stood staring at it fearlessly for a while without realizing that it was their predator. The hyaena got confused and changed its path”, the forest officer said while narrating the strange encounter between the prey and the predator.
In another occasion, the three cubs were seen chasing a jackal in the forest forcing it to flee.
There are now seven cheetahs including three cubs in the free range in the Kuno NP. A few weeks ago, two male cheetahs, Agni and Vayu, were released into the wild in Kuno.
Eight cheetahs were brought to Kuno NP from Namibia in September, 2022, under the cheetah introduction project. Six months later, 12 more cheetahs were shifted to Kuno from South Africa.
After the death of some adult cheetahs and the birth of cubs, there are now 26 cheetahs, including 14 cubs, in the Kuno NP.
