New Delhi, March 8 The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), a body under the Ministry of Environment, stated on Sunday that cheetahs travelling from Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh to Baran in Rajasthan were exhibiting "natural territorial behavior."
This clarification came in the wake of media reports stating that two cheetahs from Kuno had been tracked in the Mangrol range of Baran and the Banjh Amli Conservation Reserve after travelling about 60 to 70 km from Kuno National Park.
"Long-distance dispersal across landscape boundaries is a well-documented, natural territorial behavior in cheetahs. The Project Cheetah Action Plan explicitly anticipates and provides for inter-state movement within the Kuno-Gandhi Sagar metapopulation landscape."
"These movements reinforce the strategic rationale for the proposed 17,000 sq. km Kuno-Gandhi Sagar inter-state wildlife corridor spanning seven districts of Rajasthan and eight districts of Madhya Pradesh," the NTCA said.
The cheetahs, named KP-2 and KP-3, are among the first generation of cubs born in India and are descendants of African cheetahs that were translocated in 2022.
"KP-2 has been tracked in the Mangrol range of Baran, while KP-3 entered the Banjh Amli Conservation Reserve after travelling 60-70 km from KNP. Both animals are located approximately 6 km apart on either bank of the Parvati River. Both cheetahs are under 24×7 GPS and radio collar monitoring by a joint inter-state team, with field teams deployed from the Kishanganj and Anta ranges," the NTCA said.
"NTCA is in active coordination with both state forest departments," it said.
