Project Cheetah

Why in News?

A high-level review meeting chaired by the Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change assessed the latest milestones of Project Cheetah, revealing significant progress in population stabilization, breeding, and landscape expansion.

Population as on May 2026

• Total Population Status - The cheetah population in India has grown to 53 individuals.
• Indian-Born Population- Out of 53 Cheetah, Indian born cubs are 33
•  Indicating successful acclimatization, breeding, and cub-rearing under Indian climatic and ecological conditions.
• Founder Stock Expansion - The initial founder population translocated from Namibia and South Africa was recently supplemented by an additional 9 cheetahs from Botswana, diversifying the genetic pool.

Management outlook for Project cheetah

Project cheetah is moving away from managing a single isolated pocket to establishing a robust metapopulation framework across an interconnected central Indian landscape to allow natural dispersal and genetic exchange.

• Primary Site: Kuno National Park (Madhya Pradesh) - Serves as the primary site and launchpad for the population establishment.
• Expansion Sites: Gandhisagar Wildlife Sanctuary (Madhya Pradesh) - Prepared as the immediate additional habitat to support overflow and population expansion.
• Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary (Madhya Pradesh) - Identified for development in the next consolidation phase to strengthen the larger central Indian cheetah corridor.
• Banni Grasslands (Gujarat) - Preparatory work for habitat readiness & safety (species conservation) and prey augmentation has reached satisfactory levels to introduce cheetahs into this unique arid grassland ecosystem.

Ecological Insights

• Ecological Adaptation -  Indicates a stable ranging behavior, high prey-utilization efficiency (primarily targeting local herbivores like chital), and absence of chronic physiological or thermal stress.
• Open Natural Ecosystems - Beyond species conservation, Project Cheetah acts as an umbrella initiative to restore India's degrading savannas, scrublands, and open natural ecosystems (ONEs), which host unique, threatened biodiversity.

For Reference: PIB | IAS Parliament