Cheetahs Going Back to India

India was willing to save three grassland sanctuaries to transport cheetahs back to the subcontinent. This action shows that they are serious about guarding its native big cat species. They were also willing to work with the World Wildlife Fund to protect tiger populations. Since cheetahs had disappeared from India in 1967 after years of hunting force, they are now trying to find the right way to do it. The country’s Ministry of Environment and Forests organized to bring in 18 cheetahs from either Africa or the Middle East. Six cheetahs each will go to the two wildlife sanctuaries Kuno-Palpur and Nauradehi in central India, as well as Shahgarh Landscape in the north-western India. The Indian government spent 30 million rupees (about $600,000) in preparing for this shift. They also relocated 23 permanent human settlements. They hoped that this will boost tourism, but they should watch out because it may lead to the decline of tiger populations.

This subject has to do with biology concepts because it has to do with India’s wildlife animals. Cheetahs are one of the large cat species that is still around. India is currently hosting six of the world’s eight large cats and it is the only one to have all the large cats of Asia. Cheetahs are endangered. There are only around 10,000 cheetahs left in the wild. They are the world’s fastest animal because they can run at speeds up to 70 miles per hour over short distances. They are solitary animals and very territorial.

We should know about this information because the disappearance of cheetahs in certain areas can affect they ecosystem in which they live because those who depend on them would decrease and they may also decrease as well. Cheetahs are very special and we would have to find out where they are located in order to visit them. Keeping cheetahs will increase tourism, but this may result in a decrease in tiger populations if they reach an “overzealous tourism industry.”

http://news.discovery.com/animals/returning-cheetahs-to-india.html