3 cubs born to Namibian cheetah at Kuno Park

BHOPAL/NEW DELHI: A Namibian cheetah has given birth to three cubs at the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh, weeks after three cubs were born to another feline.

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav shared the news on X on Tuesday, saying, “Kuno’s new cubs! A Namibian cheetah named Jwala has given birth to three cubs. This comes just weeks after Namibian cheetah Aasha gave birth to her cubs.”

According to officials, these cubs were born to Jwala on January 20. This is the second litter of Jwala, after a gap of 10 months. Jwala (Namibian name Siyaya) had also given birth to four cubs in March last year. However, only one of them survived.

On January 3, Yadav had shared the information about the birth of three cubs to the Namibian cheetah Aasha.

So, the number of cubs in the KNP has increased to seven now, with six of them born in this month alone.

This has been a mixed month for India’s cheetah project as it saw the birth of six cubs and the death of a Namibian cheetah, Shaurya, at the KNP on January 16.

Since March 2023, seven adult cheetahs, including Shaurya, have died in the park due to various reasons. This has taken the total fatality count of felines, including three cubs, to 10 at the KNP.

One of the four cubs born to translocated Namibian cheetah Jwala died on May 23, 2023, and two others two days later. The much-vaunted cheetah conservation project, however, has drawn sharp criticism over the deaths of seven of the 20 adults imported from Namibia and South Africa.

So the total number of cheetahs at the KNP currently stands at 20 (six males, seven females and seven cubs).