The tableau of Madhya Pradesh has again been chosen, for the second year in a row, to be part of the National Republic Day Parade in New Delhi on 26 January, and this year the state’s theme is ‘Cheetah’, the world’s fastest land animals that are present only in the state and nowhere else in the entire country.
The Cheetahs were reintroduced in two phases into the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Sheopur district of the state under an inter-continental project, seven-decades after they became extinct in India.
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The MP tableau is among the tableaux of 15 states, which have been picked for the colourful event. Last year too, the tableau from MP was chosen and its theme was based on women empowerment.
The Cheetah was declared extinct in the country back in 1952. The country’s last Cheetah was shot dead in 1947 in the Koriya district (officially called Korea district) of present-day Chhattisgarh, which was once part of MP.
To revive their population in India under the ambitious Cheetah reintroduction Project, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on his birthday on 17 September ,2022, had released eight Namibian Cheetahs, five females and three males, into special enclosures at the KNP.
On 18 February 2023, another set of 12 Cheetahs were brought to the KNP from South Africa. However, 13 cheetahs have died since 2023, including eight of the adult cheetahs brought from Africa and five of their cubs born in India.
There are now 24 cheetahs in KNP, which include 12 adult cheetahs, one young cheetah that is around two-years-old, and 11 cubs that are about an year old.
The cubs include four of South African Cheetah Gamini that were born on 10 March 2024 and four from Namibian Cheetah Jwala’s second litter that were born on 23 January 2024. The remaining three cubs are of Namibian Cheetah Asha and were born on 2 January 2024.
The young cheetah also belongs to Jwala and is the only survivor from Jwala’s first litter of four cubs that were born on 29 March 2023.
