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Showing posts from December, 2020

Cheetah Cubs Born in Boma , Do They Have Conservation Value ?

When Aasha gave birth to three cubs in one of the enclosures  of  Kuno national park - there was good news and bad news. The good news is that this is the second litter of cheetah on Indian soil after Siyaya, another Namibia cheetah, gave birth to four cubs in March 2023 and that the animal seems to have acclimatized further in India conditions. Birth in captivity will also enhance their chances of survival. The three newborns  from Aasha have also increased the number of cheetahs in India.  The bad news is that like Siyaya's cubs, they too are born within the confines of a boma and would not get the environmental conditions required to survive in the wild. They would also be reared up by Aasha in the enclosure -safe from predators like leopards. But what does this mean? Kuno Awaits Cheetah Birth in Open Forest Cheetahs were translocated to India with a purpose. The Cheetah action plan envisages saving, conserving and developing India's grasslands .The reason for choosing cheet

Endangered Chambal Gharials Find New Home in Kuno

Gharial (Gavialis Gangeticus) has found a new home in Kuno, a tributary of Chambal river in the upstream. Over a year after a female gharial showed way to a safe haven to it's threatened reptile species, 25 gharials were released in the river , the lifeline of Kuno Palpur national park . Continued to be threatened by the illegal sand mining in National Chambal Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary in Morena, the forest department decided to introduce the reptiles in the river.  Five males gharials and 20 female-reptiles were released, said the divisional forest officer of Kuno wildlife division PK Verma .Besides, threatened  chambal turtles were also released. Are Gharials Threatened by Illegal Mining in Chambal? One of the six  female gharials, who was radio tagged  in 2017   swam over 40 kms upstream last year for nesting in Kuno sand-bed. The scientist studying the reptile behavior  revealed to the authorities about the  female reptile’s journey leading to the discovery  of the new habi

Leopards Need Tiger-Like Protection Programmes in India

Beware, numbers can always be deceptive. After increasing tiger numbers, the government released another report  with “ good news” of increasing  leopard (Panthera pardus)  figures. “The population of leopards has increased by 60%      as compared to 2014 survey,” the  ‘Status of Leopard in India 2018 ’ report, said . India now has 12,852 leopards as compared to the previous estimate which was conducted in 2014. MadhyaPradesh recorded the largest number of  3,421 leopards  followed by , 1783 in Karnataka and  1690 in Maharashtra. “ Increase in Tiger, Lion and Leopards population over the last few years is a testimony to fledgling wildlife  and biodiversity,”  Union minister for   Environment ,forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar  was quick to announce on Twitter. Amidst the celebrations, the minister missed a point completely - a recent genetic study in India has found that leopards have experienced a possible human induced 75-90% population decline in the last 120-200 y

From Unknown Tigress of Kanha to Mother of Panna: The Untold Story of T2

As Panna National park reverberates with the roar of tigers, there is one tigress in the park that has contributed almost 33% population of the tiger reserve, now included in the global list of UNESCO biospheres. T 2 , the 15- year old tigress of Panna has so far delivered 7 litters with 21 cubs, one of the most fertile tigresses of central India after Collarwali, the superstar of Pench National Park with 29 cubs in 8 litters . But T 2 ’s success story assumes more significance over Collarwali because the former populated Panna when all the tigers of the emerald forest vanished in 2008.   Also read : World Awaits Another 'Good News' from Collarwali of Pench Not T 2 , her Sibling was Scheduled to Fly People may not be knowing that T 2 , named so after it landed Panna by an Indian air force chopper in March 2009 , was not scheduled to be translocated from Kanha National park to Panna .After suspected poaching of all the big cats in Panna national park in 2008 , when a

Lonely Tiger Returns Home After One Decade

If tigers are solitary creatures, don't they get lonely and depressed? An interesting question ran by Quora on July 29, 2017. About three years later, a tiger itself seemed to have answered this query.  This tiger lived , alone ,in Kuno Palpur   Ntional Park of Madhya Pradesh for 10 years, yes, one decade !   Recently the elderly tiger reached his home Ranthambhore National Park , almost 100 kms away, safely. Code named T38 by the officials of this wonderful tiger reserve of Rajasthan some time in 2006 -07, the big cat was known as “Ranthambhore ka Sher '' in Kuno,   the park awaiting the arrival of lions for three decades now. For this reason, Madhya Pradesh has not relocated any tiger in the park to increase   their number and for the past 3650 days, T38   was living absolutely unaccompanied   . Interestingly , there was no tigress around and T38 spent a bachelor’s life. The predator would hunt and was quite healthy. A tiger expert of Wildlife Institute of India (WII