Context
- Recently, Madhya Pradesh has established its third cheetah habitat at Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve with the release of Vyom (male) and Neera (female), complementing Kuno National Park and Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary and strengthening the spatial diversification of India’s cheetah reintroduction programme.
About Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve (VDTR)
- Location: Madhya Pradesh; spans Sagar, Damoh and Narsinghpur districts.
- Established: Notified as Madhya Pradesh’s 7th Tiger Reserve in 2023.
- Landscape: Part of the Central Indian highlands, providing connectivity between important wildlife habitats.
- River Systems: The Narmada, Sonar and Kopra river systems influence the reserve’s landscape.
- Key Fauna: Tiger, leopard, sloth bear, gaur, sambar, chital and wild dog.
- Conservation Significance: Strengthens tiger conservation, habitat connectivity and landscape-level wildlife management in Central India.
About Kuno National Park
- Location: Sheopur district, Madhya Pradesh, within the Kuno River landscape.
- Established: Declared a National Park in 2018; earlier notified as a wildlife sanctuary in 1981.
- Habitat: Predominantly dry deciduous forests, grasslands and riverine ecosystems.
- Key Fauna: Leopard, chital, sambar, nilgai, wild boar and Indian wolf.
- Cheetah Significance: India’s primary cheetah reintroduction site under Project Cheetah, receiving cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa since 2022.
About Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary
- Location: Mandsaur and Neemuch districts, Madhya Pradesh, along the Chambal River.
- Established: 1974; forms part of the Gandhi Sagar–Kuno landscape for wildlife conservation.
- Habitat: Predominantly dry deciduous forests, grasslands, ravines and riverine ecosystems.
- Key Fauna: Chinkara, leopard, sloth bear, striped hyena, crocodile and various migratory birds.
- Cheetah Significance: Selected as the second cheetah reintroduction site in Madhya Pradesh, complementing Kuno National Park and supporting the expansion of Project Cheetah.
Project Cheetah
- Launched: September 2022, to reintroduce cheetahs in India after their extinction in 1952.
- Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
- Objective: Establish a viable, self-sustaining cheetah population through phased reintroduction.
- Sources: Cheetahs are being translocated primarily from Namibia and South Africa.
- Key Habitats in Madhya Pradesh: Kuno National Park, Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary and Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve.
- Significance: Aims to restore a lost apex predator, enhance ecosystem functioning and promote grassland and open-forest conservation.
| Important CTC from this article for UPSC: Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve Kuno National Park |
Q. Consider the following statements regarding Project Cheetah in India:
1. Kuno National Park was the first site selected for the reintroduction of cheetahs in India.
2. Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary is the second cheetah introduction site in Madhya Pradesh.
3. Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve is located in the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh and is the third cheetah conservation site in the state.
4. All three sites have the same protected-area status.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
(a) 1, 2 and 3 only
(b) 1 and 3 only
(c) 2 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Answer: (a) 1, 2 and 3 only
• Statement 1 is correct: Kuno National Park was the first site under Project Cheetah.
• Statement 2 is correct: Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary became the second cheetah introduction site.
• Statement 3 is correct: Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve, in the Bundelkhand region, is the third site.
• Statement 4 is incorrect: Their protected-area categories differ—Kuno is a National Park, Gandhi Sagar is a Wildlife Sanctuary, and Veerangana Durgavati is a Tiger Reserve.