The World's Fastest Cat is Returning to India

Eight cheetahs are set to arrive in India in August from Namibia, home to one of the world's largest populations of the wild cat. 

Their return comes decades after India's indigenous population was declared officially extinct in 1952.

Classified as a vulnerable species under the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species, only around  7,000 are left in the wild worldwide. 

Officials announced the agreement after 2 years plus of negotiations and only after India's Supreme Court decided in January 2020 they could be reintroduced in a "carefully chosen location".

The first arrivals will make their home in the state of Madhya Pradesh at Kuno-Palpur National Park, selected for its cheetah-friendly terrain. 

"Completing 75 glorious years of independence with restoring the fastest terrestrial flagship species, the cheetah, in India, will rekindle the ecological dynamics of the landscape", India's environment minister Bhupender Yadav announced in a social media post. 

Despite the animal's lightning-quick speeds, a combination of hunting, habitat loss and food scarcity led to the cheetah's disappearance in India. 

The Asiatic cheetah (Scientific name: Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) could once be found in areas stretching from the Arabian peninsula to Afghanistan. It is now known only to survive in Iran. In 2022, government officials there reported that only twelve are still alive. 

Efforts have been made to revive India's cheetah numbers since the 1950s. An attempt to bring them from Iran in the 1970s – when Iran had around 300 of those animals – failed after negotiations ended when the Shah was deposed in the Iranian revolution. 

Indian officials are keen for this most recent attempt to succeed long term. 

In choosing the cheetahs for India, the animals' lineage  and genetic history will be scrutinized to ensure that they are not from an excessively inbred stock and are in the ideal age group, so that they make up a suitable founding population. India aspires to import at least 30 cheetahs in the next five years. 

In a document that explains India's rationale in bringing back the cheetah, the government have said they aim to achieve both the biological objectives, that are, reestablish the ecosystem function role of the cheetah in representative areas of its former range and contribute to the global effort towards the conservation of the cheetah as a species. 

"Simultaneously, we are hopeful that the project will boost and enhance the livelihood options and living conditions of the local communities in and around the landscapes where the cheetah is likely to be introduced through increased revenues from ecotourism and associated activites", the document notes. 

Note: Compared to the Southeast African cheetah (Scientific name: Acinonyx jubatus jubatus), the Asiatic cheetah is smaller but has a thicker coat, a more powerful neck and slender legs. Many believe that they could be faster than the African species with longer legs, but no tests have confirmed this theory.