Kuno’s wild thrills cheetah Jwala’s cubs, caught on camera frolicking in river
Eight cheetahs were brought to Kuno from Namibia in September 2022 in the first ever intercontinental translocation of carnivores under the cheetah introduction project
Bhopal: Four cubs of Namibian female cheetah Jwala appear to be enjoying the wild of Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district to the hilt as they have been caught on camera frolicking in a local river under the ‘strict vigilance’ of their ‘doting’ mother.
The cubs, each aged 13 months, were sighted in Kuno river on Thursday and seen taking dive in the shallow river and then reappearing to chase each other in the vast expanse of the water body, a senior forest officer of the wildlife sanctuary said.
“The four cubs including two females are hunting regularly and playing with each other under the constant watch of their mother in the Kuno National Park”, the forest officer said.
The cubs along with their mother and another female cheetah Dheera were released into the wild in the Kuno National Park on February 21.
With their release into the wild in the park, there are now 12 cheetahs in the free range in Kuno.
Earlier, female cheetah Aasha along with her three male cubs and two male cheetahs, Agni and Vayu, were released into the Kuno National Park on two different days.
“Unlike Aasha who got separated from her cubs barely half an hour after they were released into the wild in the wildlife sanctuary, Jwala has been found to be a doting mother preferring to keep her cubs under her constant vigilance”, the forest officer said.
All the 12 cheetahs in the free range are doing fine, he added.
Dedicated teams of forest officers, armed with modern equipment and electronic gadgets, have been monitoring the cheetahs in the free range in Kuno.
The remaining 14 cheetahs in Kuno have been kept in the large enclosures and will be released into the wild in a phased manner.
Eight cheetahs were brought to Kuno from Namibia in September 2022 in the first ever intercontinental translocation of carnivores under the cheetah introduction project.
Six months later, 12 cheetahs were shifted to Kuno from South Africa under the same project.
Kuno now has 26 cheetahs including 14 cubs.
