Another cheetah Suraj dies at Kuno National Park, 8th in five months

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, July 14, 2023: A few days after the death of the seventh Cheetah brought from South Africa, Cheetah Suraj, translocated from Namibia, died at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh on Friday. He is the eighth Cheetah to die in the past five months.

 

The cause of Suraj’s death is yet to be known. Earlier on Tuesday, Cheetah Tejas died reportedly after injury.

The first cheetah death was reported on March 27-- female Cheetah Sasha had died from a kidney ailment. In April, Uday, one of the male cheetahs from South Africa, died of cardiac issues. Earlier in May, a female cheetah, Daksha, from South Africa, was killed after a fight with two males.

In March, four cubs were born to Siyaya (Jwala). However, in May, a two-month-old cub of Cheetah Siyaya died in Kuno. Prima facie, the cub died of weakness. Days after the death of the first cub, two more cheetah cubs of Siyaya died in the same month.

’LOSS WITHIN THE MORTALITY RATE’

Vincent Van Der Merwe, a South African cheetah metapopulation expert had said: "Whilst the loss of one of Siyaya’s cubs is unfortunate, the loss is well within expected mortality rates for cheetah cubs. Cub mortality is particularly high for wild cheetahs. For this reason, cheetahs have evolved to give birth to large litters compared to other wild cats. This enables them to compensate for the high cub mortality rate."

"The death was attributed to dehydration. Weaker cheetah cubs in a litter will typically suckle less than their stronger siblings. This death should be viewed within the context of ‘survival of the fittest’. As part of the natural selection process, weaker cheetahs will be eliminated from the gene pool. This ensures that only the fittest and strongest survive, to the benefit of wild cheetah survival," he added.

Eight cheetahs were brought to India from Namibia and released at Kuno on September 17 last year. In February, 12 more cheetahs were brought in from South Africa, of which six are in the wild and the remaining in various enclosures at Kuno.

Courtesy: India Today