Relocated Cheetahs Adapting Well In Their New Home

I've blogged a fair bit about India’s ambitious cheetah reintroduction project. And I found this progress report on two of the African cheetahs. 

The said cheetahs had been moved from Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park to the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary on April 20, 2025 and they are adapting remarkably well to their new environment, turning the open grasslands into their hunting grounds. They have developed a preference for hunting nilgai, with successful captures occurring approximately every other day, report wildlife officials. 

Grazing freely in the sanctuary's expansive grasslands, nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus) appear to have become an easy target for the newly introduced predators, said forest officials. Mandsaur forest department and wildlife experts are monitoring cheetahs through advanced tracking collars and strategically placed camera traps. 

Mandsaur DFO Sanjay Raikhere said, "The sanctuary has a significant population of nilgai and including them in the cheetahs' primary prey list is a promising sign of their establishment within the ecosystem". 

The data collected indicates that the cheetahs typically engage in hunting during the early morning or late evening when the conditions are most favourable. In addition to nilgai, instances of hunting spotted deer or chital (Axis axis) and Indian gazelle or chinkara (Gazella bennettii) were also recorded. 

After Kuno, Gandhi Sagar has become the second sanctuary, where cheetahs are exhibiting natural hunting behaviours. As the cheetahs continue to adapt and establish their presence, experts remain hopeful for the long-term sustainability of this key predator species in the Indian landscape. 

Malaysia's Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan fought back from a game down to beat Indonesia’s Lanny Tria Mayasari-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti today and book their spot in the Indonesia Open quarter-finals. 

The world No. 4 Malaysians were pushed to three games by the unseeded home duo but prevailed 18-21, 21-16, 21-17 in a 58-minute battle, despite strong support for the Indonesians from the home crowd. This marks Pearly-Thinaah’s second win over the world No. 20 Indonesians in three meetings. 

Yesterday, the women's doubles pair kicked off their fourth consecutive week of competition with a confident first-round victory. They barely broke a sweat against world No. 15 Sung Shuo Yun-Yu Chien Hui of Taiwan, sealing a 21-16, 21-17 win in just 41 minutes.