New Delhi: A satellite collar can show forest officials where a cheetah was several hours ago. It cannot tell them exactly where the animal is now, what danger it faces or whether a team will reach it in time.
That limitation has come into focus after a 19-month-old cheetah, KNG22, died on 27 October after being shot in the territorial forests of Madhya Pradesh’s Morena district, outside Kuno National Park. The male cub, born to the female cheetah Nirva, was found critically injured on 25 October. Veterinary surgeons recovered five firearm pellets from its body, but it could not be saved.
The animal was fitted with a radio collar, raising questions about how it could be injured despite being part of a closely monitored reintroduction programme. The incident has also drawn attention to a basic challenge facing Project Cheetah: these animals do not remain within the boundaries of the protected areas where they were released.
So, how do tracking collars work, why can they fail to provide an immediate location, and can technology alone protect India’s cheetahs?
How do GPS collars track cheetahs?
Wildlife researchers use satellite collars to monitor the movements of animals across large landscapes. These devices, fitted around an animal’s neck, use satellite-based positioning systems to establish geographical coordinates. The location data is then transmitted to monitoring teams, allowing officials to map an animal’s movements without having to follow it continuously.
The information can help researchers understand how far cheetahs travel, which habitats they use, where they hunt and whether they move beyond protected areas. It can also alert forest officials when an animal enters a landscape where it could encounter people, livestock, roads or other threats.
But a collar is not a live tracking device in the way a phone’s location-sharing application might appear to be. Kuno National Park director Uttam Kumar Sharma said in a recent note that the collars used at the park are generally programmed to transmit location data every six hours. This interval balances the need for regular updates against battery life and the duration for which a collar can remain operational.
If a scheduled transmission is missed, the gap between location updates can increase to 12 or even 18 hours. By then, the animal could have travelled several kilometres.
A missing signal does not necessarily mean a collar has stopped working or that the animal is in danger. Dense vegetation, rocky terrain, valleys and poor satellite visibility can interfere with location acquisition or transmission.
Why is it difficult to follow a cheetah on the ground?
Cheetahs are highly mobile animals. According to Sharma, those being monitored at Kuno typically move around 6-8 km a day, although some cover 12-15 km or more. Their movements are often concentrated during the early morning and late evening.
This makes it difficult for monitoring teams to reach an animal using the last available coordinates. A vehicle cannot move through a forest in a straight line, while walking through dense vegetation, particularly in poor light, can be physically demanding and risky.
Forest officials therefore combine satellite tracking with very high frequency, or VHF, radio equipment. Satellite collars help teams narrow down an animal’s broad location, while VHF receivers can help locate it more precisely when personnel get within range.
The two systems serve different purposes. Satellite tracking provides a wider picture of movement, while ground-based radio tracking helps teams find the animal. Neither guarantees that officials can maintain visual contact with a cheetah throughout the day.
Why do cheetahs leave protected areas?
A national park’s boundary is an administrative line, not a barrier that animals recognise. Cheetahs move in search of prey, territory and suitable habitat, and their movements can take them into surrounding forests, revenue land and areas close to villages.
This is particularly relevant to Project Cheetah, which aims to establish a free-ranging population rather than keep every animal inside an enclosure. Kuno’s surrounding landscape includes territorial forest divisions and human settlements, creating the possibility of encounters with people, livestock and vehicles.
When a cheetah crosses into a territorial forest, the responsibility for its protection also involves forest personnel outside the national park’s management structure. Coordination between divisions becomes essential, especially when an animal moves across administrative boundaries.
The death of KNG22 illustrates the risks of this transition. The animal was found injured outside Kuno, and investigators are examining its movements and the circumstances surrounding the shooting. The state government has constituted a special task force, while the Centre has also deputed a team to examine security and monitoring arrangements.
Can technology make Project Cheetah safer?
Collars remain an important conservation tool, but they are only one part of a much larger monitoring system. Their data can help officials identify movement patterns and direct field teams towards an animal’s last known location. It can also help researchers assess how cheetahs are adapting to Indian habitats.
However, a location update cannot prevent poaching, stop a vehicle from hitting an animal or ensure that local communities respond safely to its presence. That requires personnel on the ground, coordination between forest divisions, intelligence gathering and cooperation with people living around the protected areas.
The programme also needs to account for the possibility that cheetahs will increasingly use areas beyond Kuno as their population grows and animals disperse. Protecting only the core park would leave gaps in a landscape that the animals do not experience as separate administrative units.
The central challenge is therefore not simply to track every cheetah, but to make the wider landscape safer for it to move through. Satellite collars can tell officials where an animal has travelled. Whether it survives that journey depends on what happens after the signal reaches them.