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Project Cheetah Crosses 60 as India-Born Cheetah KJP21 Delivers Five Cubs at Kuno

5 October 2026· Madhya PradeshNational

Five cubs born to KJP21, an India-born female cheetah, at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh took India's cheetah population to 60, of which 41 were born on Indian soil, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav announced on 5 October 2026. The father is a male brought from Botswana, so the litter opens the Botswanan lineage in India and widens the founder gene pool. 53 cheetahs are now at Kuno and 3 at Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary. Project Cheetah began on 17 September 2022 with eight Namibian cheetahs, followed by twelve from South Africa in 2023 and nine from Botswana in February 2026.

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Kuno National Park lies in Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh on the Kuno river, a Chambal tributary | The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) was declared extinct in India in 1952 and Project Cheetah is the world's first intercontinental translocation of a large carnivore | Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary spans Mandsaur and Neemuch districts on the Chambal river

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