MAJOR UPDATES on Project Cheetah You MUST'N MISS | VANTARA Also Coming In Picture?

Friends, on 17th September, Project Cheetah has celebrated its 3rd year, and if we compare it to the 1st year, then this project has come a long way, with 0% mortality rate and excellent breeding developments. Seeing all this, it seems that in the coming years, this will be the world's most successful relocation project. Another major update is that this project is not limited to Kuno only, but recently 3 cheetahs have been released in the Gandhisagar Wildlife Sanctuary. In this video, we will learn about the latest updates of Project Cheetah, and will also focus on future programs. We will also learn about Ambani's Vantara, which was in a lot of controversy recently. Let's see everything in this informative video, but before proceeding, don't forget to press the like and subscribe button. Cheetah is a very ancient animal. In ancient Egypt, the cheetah was considered sacred, and it was connected to the goddess Mephite. The name of the cheetah has come from the Sanskrit word Chitkara, which means the one with a trunk. In India, the Mughal Emperor Akbar had more than 9000 tamed cheetahs, but today their population is only about 7000, mostly in Africa. First, let's talk about the background, so that our new and old viewers can understand the whole picture. Project Cheetah was officially launched on September 17, 2022, when 8 adult cheetahs, 4 males and 4 females were brought to Kuno National Park via flight. This was one of the biggest reintroduction programs in the world, as Asian cheetahs had disappeared from India in 1952 due to overhunting. In February 2023, the second batch of cheetahs from South Africa was brought, which included 7 females and 5 males. At this time, the total cheetah population was 20. Their ultimate goal was to develop a self-sustaining population, revive grassland habitats, and boost biodiversity. This project is being run under the National Tiger Conservation Authority and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, with international partners such as Namibia's Cheetah Conservation Fund and South Africa's SANBI. Now, after 3 years, this project is not only surviving, but also evolving. But the challenges are also increasing, such as space constraints and predation risks. According to NTCA's latest assessment, it has now become a model for an open natural ecosystem, where local prey species such as chinkaras, black bucks, etc. are also increasing with cheetahs, creating a balanced predator-prey dynamic. In the 748 sq. km. area of Kuno, cheetah movement is being tracked by GPS collars. And we know from telemetry data that a cheetah covers an area of 2-9 km daily, which can make them need more dedicated space to roam in the open. A radio collar was present on this cheetah, but the monitoring team did not think it was right to intervene, because it is part of the natural predation in this reintroduction project. But this is nothing. What I am going to tell you next is the biggest success of this entire project. And you can't even imagine that this miracle has happened in India. So let's move on. Cheetahs are very unique. They drink very little water, once in three to four days, because they are adapted to live in dry regions. Its nails are semi-retractable and provide them with a grip like a car tire while running. Its tail is wide from behind, which helps them to give direction while running. Their eyes are very sharp. They can see clearly up to five kilometers. The biggest success of this project, or the crown of this project, is successful natural breeding. In three years, a total of six litters were produced here, of which 25 cubs were born. In July 2025, a video of NDTV went viral, in which a pair of fire and air cheetahs were seen hunting in the grasslands of Kuno, and their four cubs were seen playfully chasing and cornering Chinkara. This scene was going to give a lot of joy to the heart. This shows that cheetahs are now becoming acclimatized in the environment of India and are showing their natural behavior. And now they can survive in nature without human feeding. A bigger miracle happened when the cub born in January 2023, Mukhi, was made the poster boy of this project. Jwala gave birth to Mukhi, but as soon as he was born, his mother abandoned him, and it seemed that he would not be able to survive. But the team hand-reared this cheetah, gave formula milk, and kept it in an enclosure. With this, not only is this cheetah surviving, but today it is a free-ranging cheetah, and it is also hunting small prey by itself. Today, a total of 17 Indian-born cubs are surviving, which is a living proof of the Cheetahs' comeback to India after 70 years. In March 2024, Asha gave birth to three cubs. In July 2025, four children were born in the second litter, in which the 100% survival rate made everyone happy. But this cannot be possible without the wisdom of the authorities. Mother cheetah was given privacy in large enclosed spaces, and access to prey was given, due to which the mother and cub were able to survive safely without human intervention. The best thing is that all this breeding is natural, without any kind of human intervention. Cheetahs are soft-released in Bomas, which is a 10 to 20 acre fenced area, and they are left to breed naturally. Human intervention is only limited to monitoring from CCTVs and drones. International organizations are also praising the breeding progress. Namibia's CCF had long ago said that giving birth to the first litter of cubs in just six months of relocation is a huge historical moment. And you will be surprised to know that there have been many developments in this project other than cheetahs, due to which this conservation project in India is being praised all over the world. Let's see about it. Cheetah can only run for 20 to 30 seconds, and then it overheats and needs to rest. When they run, their heart beats at a speed of 150 to 250 beats per minute, which reduces its sprinting time. A comprehensive book was launched on the third anniversary of Project Cheetah, entitled Three Years of Project Cheetah, A National Conservation Triumph, Stories of Important Events and Milestones. It is compiled from the monthly newsletters of Kuno, and includes initial flights from Namibia, initial challenges, breeding breakthroughs, and even cubs naming ceremonies, which also included local communities. Everything has been covered. In April 2025, Prabhas and Pawak have been shifted to the 64 sq km fenced zone of the Gandhi Sagar. On the banks of the Chambal River, where water resources and prey density are high, telemetry data shows that their daily movement is 5 to 7 km, and they have already started targeting local black bucks. The decision to relocate Dheera was taken at the MP's CM Mohan Yadav's high-level review meeting, where it was decided that to make the Gandhi Sagar a second cheetah hub, a natural breed would have to be bred here, so it is necessary to release both male and female cheetahs. Experts estimate that this trio can produce the first litter in a year. In June 2025, a community outreach program was held in the villages of Kuno, where 500 locals were educated on the human-wildlife conflict, with compensation schemes for livestock losses, and 20 such claims have already been settled this year. Namibia's Cheetah Conservation Fund has said in an independent review that the project is performing 20% better than initial projections, especially in breeding and adaptation. The hunt success rate is 40-50%, and the adult and 6-month-old cubs have been seen showing their natural behaviour and stalking the prey. Kuno has 10,000 plus chinkaras and 5,000 black bucks, and the NTCA has highlighted in a post that the grassland ecosystem is being reshaped in a positive way due to cheetahs. Invasive species are being controlled and fire management has been improved. Local economy is growing by 15% due to the boost in eco-tourism, but there are many hidden challenges behind the success. Kuno has a total of 60-70 leopards, and the 15th of September leopard attack can be alarming, because leopards are superior to cheetahs in terms of population. When the cheetah cub killed in the leopard attack was post-mortem, the claw marks and bite on the neck confirmed a typical leopard kill. And there are many precautions to prevent such attacks, which can be taken. And according to me, these precautions should be taken until the cheetah metapopulation develops. After that, cheetahs will have to learn to co-exist with other big cats in India. Let's take a look at these measures one by one. Cheetahs are genetically closely related to American pumas or cougars. But unlike pumas, cheetahs are not very good climbers, so they spend most of their time on the ground, and despite being light, they cannot climb trees like leopards. The first precaution is to do selective relocation of the leopard. From core areas, which started in 2024, and 10 leopards have already been relocated. This is important so that the predator base is maintained in the region, and there are no conflicts between them, and the prey base is sufficient. This may seem wrong for leopards, but in reality, their relocation will increase the leopards' metapopulation in those areas where they are not present. In this way, both species will have space to grow. The second precaution is to fence cheetahs and pumas and monitor them. This will not only stop predators from conflicting, but will also provide safety to poachers. The third precaution is to regularly track the movement of cheetahs with the help of collars. But there is one thing to note here. In India's warm, moist environment, cheetahs can become maggots due to collars. Therefore, regular medicine and cleaning are needed. I have already talked about this, which you will find in the dedicated playlist on Project Cheetah. By January 2024, 10 cheetahs had died due to many health issues. Wildlife experts from India and Africa believe that Kuno's 748 sq. km was understimated. Every cheetah needs an area of 400-500 sq. km, depending on their age, gender, and season. In 2023, Jwala, Rajasthan's Rantambhor, had covered a distance of 100 km. Uday June, 2024, covered a distance of 70 km. A total of four retrievals were made in the peripheral areas of Rajasthan and MP. An MOU will be signed for the cheetah corridor, in which they will get a safe passage of 200 km, and many wildlife protected zones will be connected for free movement of cheetahs. Along with all these conservation efforts, Anant Ambani's ambitious Vantara is also going to be added, which is a great example of the involvement of private players in conservation efforts. But recently, it was surrounded by a lot of controversies. Let's understand this in detail. The way athletes apply paint to protect their eyes from the sun, similarly, cheetahs have naturally black tear marks on their eyes, which gives them a sharp vision even in the scorching sun. Cheetahs are generally social animals, and often form coalitions with their brothers, and together defend the territory. Vantara, Anant Ambani's passion project, is spread over 3,500 acres in Jamnagar, Gujarat, the world's largest wildlife rescue center, where more than 25,000 animals of 2,000 species live. In February 2024, PM Modi inaugurated it on World Wildlife Day, and the project includes 22 multi-specialty hospitals, 17 clinics, Asia's first wildlife hospitals with CT scans, robotic surgery, and specialized ICUs for primates, reptiles, and elephants. It has over 3,800 staff, 75 ambulances, and a special app, the ANTZ app, which coordinates with 50 countries for animal rescue. But recently, this project has been surrounded by controversies, because it has been alleged that instead of rescuing animals, it is illegally sourcing them. On September 19, Brazilian authorities filed allegations on Vantara that it is procuring Brazilian endemic species, Spix Macaw, from Germany, which is illegal. Actually, these Macaws have been extinct in the wild since 2019, and Brazil claims that the Macaws brought from Germany are out of their population management program, and this is wrong. The same allegation was filed on Vantara when Tapanuli orangutan was brought from the UAE. This species is found in Indonesia, and their population is only 800. In this case, they were suspected of bringing them from the UAE. Is Vantara illegally procuring these exotic species? Or is it not procuring from them, who are procuring these exotic species? But all these allegations were removed by the Supreme Court of India, and Vantara was given a clean cheat. It was also said that the animals there are completely safe, formally and properly procured, and there is no mistreatment with them. Private players like Vantara can completely reshape conservation efforts in the future, because they have superior resources. Project Cheetah may not be linked to this yet, but if it is linked in the future, then there will be no surprise, because a cheetah breeding center is being built and habitats like Vantara can also work well for breeding centers. And apart from cheetahs, they can also protect those species who need strict conservation. If we talk about Project Cheetah, the cheetahs coming from South Africa have been paused for now, because the health reports of the cheetahs were not being shared with the South African authorities. But the batch of 8 cheetahs from Botswana has been completed, and new cheetahs are coming from Kenya in 2026. The future goal of this project is to increase their population in India with the supply of domestic breeding and time-to-time African cheetahs. Their metapopulation of up to 50 cheetahs will be created in multiple places. A tripartite meeting is going to take place with South Africa and Kenya in October, with which the paused cheetah supply will be planned to be restarted. South Africa has announced that they have paused the cheetah supply because the health data was not being shared with them. And I also believe that if this project is to make cheetahs successful, transparency will have to be brought in. And data will have to be shared with African experts because they have hands-on experience of these species. And with all these measures, one day we will definitely see free roaming cheetahs in India. If you liked the video, then don't forget to like, share and subscribe and do give us your opinion in the comment section.