Reintroduction of Cheetahs in India

[Rajeev Mathew]

Having read all your posts on the Cheetah may I add that according to Dunbar Brander (Wild Animals of Central India 1923 - Pg 273) '...is now very rare in the Central Provinces'. R. Lydekker's 'Game Animals of India, Burma, Malaya and Tibet' 1924, IInd Edn. Revised by J.G. Dollman pgs 344-347 gives some description of the extent of its range. Written here is something unique, the book refers to Cheetahs - Hunting Leopards - as hunting in pairs. A report written by a hunter from Hyderabad State describes hunting using them. All pictures, paintings etc. of muslim and Mogul rulers in India depict hunts with Cheetah, Saluki Hounds, Falcons and Hawks. The question then is; was the Cheetah got in for hunting and left feral during the non-hunting period? I have read such treatise written by old hunters, and one hunt was mentioned to me by the Master of Hunts of one of the Princes of Hyderabad. [The Central Asian Falconers even today release Golden Eagles, Peregrines etc. after the hunting season is over to capture another one later and train for the hunt.] If so, then may be we can explain its demise in India. May be we should revisit very old literature, the Jahingir Nama could be a good start to know if the Cheetah existed indigenously here in India, for their range speaks of Northern and Central Indian plains and Deccan where the Moguls and other Muslim rulers ruled. There are no reports of the Cheetah beyond the Krishna River where plains extend and Blackbuck abounded and were ruled by the Hindu rulers. Coincidence?

Cheers,
Rajeev M.

[Vikram Nanjappa]

Addressing two points brought up by previous posts . 1. Native or Feral 2.Distribution.

( Taken from a paper titled THE ORIGIN, RANGE AND STATUS OF THE
ASIATIC (OR INDIAN) CHEETAH OR HUNTING LEOPARD
(Acinonyx iubatus veneticus)
A Tentative Position Paper
by
Divyabhanu Sinnh )

This argument seems to have it origin in two sources. The first being the absence of identifiable mention of the Cheetah in Sanskrit literature i.e. before the Muslim invasions of the sub-continent and the second being the fact that import of cheetahs from Africa had become a regular feature among the Princes by 1927.

I find the argument that the import of cheetahs in this century from Africa is evidence of the animals being imported in earlier times whose progeny went wild subsequently to be extremely weak. Let us take a closer look at the historical records that we have at our disposal.

Akbar is recorded as having devised a new method of trapping cheetahs in the wild in India and also of training them at his court for hunting. This supposes that older methods existed and that the Cheetah was found wild in India. Akbar is also known to have had 1000 cheetahs at one time in his menagerie and Mutamad Khan records that in his lifetime Akbar had collected 9000 cheetahs .Now if these animals were collected in one reign alone it would have resulted in a flourishing and lucrative import trade which would not have gone unnoticed in the various chronicles. In fact, there is no mention of import trade of cheetahs in the Akbarnama, Ain-1-Akbari or Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri .Thus this confirms not just the presence of wild Cheetahs in India but also give us a fair idea of their numbers in the wild.

On the other hand it was found that the Cheetah was very difficult to breed in captivity. When one pair did bred in captivity and produced three young it was precisely recorded by Emperor Jahangir and by Mutamad Khan in his Iqbalnama. It was obviously a matter of joy to the Emperor since the event was so rare and Mutamad Khan considered it to be "among the curious events" that occurred during the reign of Jahangir. Under such circumstances it is difficult to contemplate that the Cheetah was prolific enough to multiply rapidly and successfully to the extent that it was found all over the sub-continent in a feral state even if it was imported by the early Muslim invaders of India, say 300 years before the Mughals arrived on the sub-continent.


Sanskrit literature is notorious for its descriptive inaccuracy, ask any scientists working to identify roots, fruits, flowers, leaves, etc, for ayurvedic medicines. When one tries to identify animals and birds one is on equally slippery grounds. A recent study of flora and fauna in Sanskrit literature (Banerji, 1980) records 50 species of animals with more or less accurate identification including seven species of domestic animals. Prater (1980) on the other hand records 136 species of animals (not including domesticated ones and marine mammals) found on the sub-continent. If one is to accept the proposition that cheetahs were not found in India before the Muslim period on the basis of their not being identifiably recorded in Sanskrit literature, one can also reach the conclusion that some 90 species of animals known to us to-day were imported by the Mughals or their successors. Further, according to the same study, the word Dvipl could denote a Tiger, Leopard and Snow leopard. The word Harina (also Mrga, Kuranagama, Rsya, Nyanku Ena) could denote any member of the deer and antelope family found in India .The Lion, on the other hand, is referred to as Simha, Mrigendra, Mrgadhipa, Mrigaraja, Hari and Kesrin. It is quite clear that accurate identification of any animal, leave alone the Cheetah in Sanskrit literature would be very difficult if not impossible.

So we can conclude that the Cheetah is or was indeed native to India. It would be quite interesting to find out more details of its range within the country. To all purposes it should have been the same as the range of its main prey ie the Chinkara. It is supposed that the Chinkara was its main prey and not the Blackbuck and thus the Cheetahs distribution would have mirrored that of the Chinkara more than that of the Blackbuck. This range included areas of Sind, Gujarat, Punjab, Rajputana, Central India and Deccan and as far south as Mysore.

A glance at the written records of various individuals, both British and Indian, give us a representative record of the Cheetah’s range in India over the last hundred years or so. Forsyth, writing in 1889, states that he had come across and shot cheetahs 'several times' in Central India. Russell (1900) records having seen five cheetahs in August 1882 in Berrambadie forest of Mysore district, of which he shot one. He also records that the animal was not seen to be numerous anywhere though it was more common in Jaipur and Hyderabad. G.O. Allen (1919) states that he saw in 1916 the skin of a Cheetah killed by villagers 30 miles south of Mirzapur. Only five animals were recorded in 25 years prior to that in the region. R.G. Burton (1920) states that he never saw a Cheetah in the wild. In one instance he saw tracks in Buldana district of Berar. He records seeing three skins of animals shot in Melghat forest. One was shot at Damangao in 1894 and one in 1895. He quotes Buchanan Hamilton, who believed the Cheetah to be found all over the hilly parts of India but numerous only around Hyderabad. Sir Montague Gerard told Burton that he had ridden and speared cheetahs in Central India. Raj Kumar (later Maharaja) Sardulsinghji of Bikaner shot three Cheetahs out of a bunch of five seen by him in Rewa state around 1925.L.L. Fenton (1920) records that in Bombay Presidency Cheetahs occurred in limited numbers in the Kathiawar province. In 17 years of his stay in Kathiawar he had heard of only nine cheetahs. Two were shot by "natives" in Chotila two by S.A. Strip of Wadhawan Garassia School at Wadhwani and of the remaining five cheetahs, one each was speared by Mr. Waddington, Principal,
Rajkumar College, Rajkot, and himself, and three were dispatched by other officers. In the same vicinity the late Maharana Raj Saheb Sir Amarsinhji of Wankaner shot two cheetahs between 1900 and 1910 (Y. Digvijay Sinhji, 1984). J.M. Richardson (1929) shot a specimen in Chindwara district, and was informed by the Commissioner of the Division that for 50 years a Cheetah had not been reported in those parts. R.C. Morris (1935 <!') records his father as having seen one in Attikalpur in Mysore District. He also refers to F.W. Jackson's "Mammals of the Coimbatore District" published in 1875, which records that the Cheetah was sparsely distributed there (Morris, 1935<2>). The last record of cheetahs in the wild in India is of 1948 when the ruler of Korwai state (wrongly referred to as Korea in the Journal of Bombay Natural History Society) senselessly destroyed three of them while these animals were transfixed in strong headlights at night.

[Bibhav Behera]

India has joined the race to save cheetahs, the animal species it lost sometime in 1947, from extinction. Despite the setbacks on the tiger front in the recent years, the country is considering the re-introduction of cheetahs, the only animal it lost in the past 1000 years of conservation history, into its wild. A time frame of six months has been kept for selecting a terrain for the animal which has an amazing reach after being the world’s fastest animal.
Against a population of one lakh at the turn of the previous century, the number of cheetahs at present has come down to less than 10,000. Along with India 15 other countries witnessed the extinction of the animal in the past 60 years. Now Namibia hosts the largest population of cheetahs in the world while Asiatic cheetahs—more akin to the animal India had—survive only in Iran. There number is said to be less than 100.
A consultative meeting held in Rajasthan’s Gajner in Bikaner earlier this month decided to entrust the job of carrying out a reconnaissance of the locations to experts from Wildlife Institute of India, Wildlife Trust of India –the NGO which initiated the process – and the State Governments of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh.
The consultation, attended by experts such as Stephen J. O’Brien of the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity, Laurie Marker of Cheetah Conservation Fund and M.K. Ranjitsinh, chairman Wildlife Trust of India and Divyabhanusinh Chavda, president WWF-India, in principle accepted the idea of re-introduction of the cheetah though the authorities remained cautious in their commitment.
“Many people are thrilled about the prospect. Many are critical saying that there is no habitat available and that when India cannot protect its national animal—the tiger—why should it embark on this venture,” wondered Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Environment and Forests, who could not make it to the venue, in a message. “Personally I feel that we would be reclaiming a part of our wonderful and varied ecological history if the cheetah was to be reintroduced in the wild…”he said.
Though initially the Indian side was keen on getting cheetahs from Iran, the experts advised the gathering against it. Both Dr. O ‘Brien and Dr.Marker were of the view that sourcing cheetahs from Namibia, instead of trying to get specimen from the limited population Iran, would be advisable. There is no significant difference between African and Asiatic cheetahs as both got separated only some 5,000 years back, they asserted.
Mr.Ramesh, during a visit to Sariska tiger reserve in Rajasthan a few days back had revealed that Iran has been asking a lion in exchange for the cheetah and the deal was not likely to materialize as Gujarat would be unwilling to part with its lions. Experts are also of the view that the Iran population should be left untouched as any experiment in re-introduction in India would require at least 10 cheetahs. Moreover the nature and spread of the jungles in Namibia are said to be similar to those India with villages interspersed in between.
Among the locations short listed as the probable habitat for cheetahs in India include Rajasthan’s Shahgarh Bulge, north west of Jaisalmer along the India-Pakistan border, Chandan, located between Pokhran and Jaisalmer and Baran Bhakar, near Jodhpur. In Gujarat the probable locations are Banni, a 2000 sq km stretch near the Rann of Kutch and Narain Sarovar sanctuary.
Places identified in Madhya Pradesh are Sanjay Dubri sanctuary, adjoining Chattisgarh, Naura Dehi and Palpur Kuno, recommended also for re-introduction of lions. The surprise entrants in the race are Sholapur-Kolapur in Maharashtra and grasslands in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka’s Bijapur. There are suggestions on starting a cheetah breeding centre at Gajner, which has a good ungulate presence or near Jodhpur.


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