New Delhi: The Cheetah Reintroduction Project in Kuno recorded its first-ever wild birth as an Indian-born female cheetah gave birth to four cubs on 11 April. Union Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav, announced the births on X, calling it a ‘historic milestone’.
“This is a significant step toward achieving the core objectives of the project—survival and breeding under natural conditions,” he said.
The birth of four new cubs takes the total toll of cheetahs in Kuno to 57, with 37 Indian-born cubs. The new cubs were born to a two-year-old Indian-born cheetah. Its mother Gamini was one of the cheetahs brought from South Africa in February 2023 as part of the second translocation under Project Cheetah.
This birth comes barely a month after Jwala, a Namibian-born cheetah, gave birth to a litter of five cubs on 8 March, her third litter. The new litter, by Gamini’s daughter, marks the second generation of Indian-born cheetahs.
It is also significant because this is the first birth that has happened completely in the wild. According to government officials, earlier, cheetah births have happened in the soft bomas or enclosures, even if mating happened in the wild.
Also read: India’s cheetah count crosses 50. Jwala gives birth to 5 cubs at Kuno
Project Cheetah’s goals
India’s Project Cheetah is currently in its fourth year, and began in September 2022 when eight cheetahs—five females and three males—were flown in from Namibia to Kuno. Another 12 cheetahs were brought in from South Africa in February 2023, Gamini among them, after a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the Union Ministry for Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and the government of South Africa.
India also has nine other cheetahs from Botswana that arrived on 28 February 2026 and are kept in Kuno National Park. Indian cheetahs are currently spread across two parks in Madhya Pradesh—Kuno National Park, which has a majority of the cheetahs, and Gandhi Sagar National Park, which has three cheetahs.
According to government press releases, the long-term plan is to establish a Kuno-Gandhi Sagar cheetah landscape which can host up to 60-70 cheetahs.
The early phases of the cheetah project were marred with conflict as nine out of the 20 cheetahs that were brought to the country died due to various reasons. Ten cubs born in India also died during infancy.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)