MP: With cubs’ gender and fathers identified, Kuno cheetah project faces new challenge
The authorities are concerned to maintain genetic diversity of the species, the key objective of the cheetah introduction project in India
Bhopal: The process of identification of gender and fathers of all the 14 cheetah cubs, barring two, in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park (NP) has been completed, providing a new challenge to the authorities concerned to maintain genetic diversity of the species, the key objective of the cheetah introduction project in India.
Gender of a cheetah cub is confirmed when it is one year old.
“Gender and fathers of all the 14 cubs, barring two, in Kuno NP have been identified. The sex of two cubs, born to South African female cheetah Veera, is yet to be determined since they are barely a few weeks old”, the forest officer said, unwilling to be quoted.
According to him, 23-month-old Mukhi, the lone survivor among four cubs, born in the first litter of South African female cheetah Jwala, was fathered by Freddie, the Namibia cheetah who died of unknown reasons later.
The female cub Mukhi was abandoned by Jwala in her infancy following the death of her three siblings due to acute dehydration in Kuno soon after their birth.
Jwala’s second litter yielding four cubs including two females was fathered by Namibian cheetah Pawan which died of drowning later.
The cubs are now 13-month-old.
Similarly, Namibian female cheetah Aasha’s first litter of three male cubs was fathered by Pawan.
The three cubs are now around 13-month-olds.
South African female cheetah Gamini in its first litter in March 2024 delivered six cubs, which were fathered by South African cheetah Pavak.
Two of the six cubs died later.
The four surviving cubs included two females.
Another South African female cheetah Veera delivered two cubs a few weeks ago.
The two cubs were fathered by South African cheetah Pravesh.
South African female cheetah Nirva had delivered two cubs. But it was believed that the mother cheetah killed her cubs soon after their birth.
Of the seven female cheetahs in Kuno NP, five have become mothers.
The remaining two, Nabha from Namibia and Dheera from South African have not yielded cubs yet.
A cheetah reaches reproductive age at two.
That means all the 14 India-born cubs barring the two newborns will gain adulthood after one year and be ready to contribute to the growth of cheetah population in Kuno.
“This will pose a challenge for maintaining genetic diversity in Kuno since some of them are found to be half-siblings and may lead to inbreeding”, a cheetah expert said.
For example, three male cubs of Aasha and four cubs including two females of Jwala are half-siblings since all of them were fathered by Pawan and are now in the wild in Kuno along with their mothers and two other cheetahs, Agni and Vayu, and hence, there are chances of inbreeding.
“Inbreeding seriously affects fitness in the cheetah population. The richer the genetic diversity, the healthier is the cheetah population”, the expert said.
Hence, a proper plan should be put in place to ensure genetic diversity in cheetah population growth in Kuno, the expert said.
Kuno now has 26 cheetahs including five males, seven females and 14 cubs.
