Bhopal: Cubs of African cheetahs, born in the Kuno National Park of Madhya Pradesh, have been found, uncharacteristically, enjoying swimming in rivers, drinking water thrice a day, and hunting even medium-sized animals.
These subtle changes in behaviours seen in some cubs of the African cheetahs in Kuno have been described by the experts as ‘local adaptation’.
“Some minor changes in behaviours have been noticed in some cubs of the African cheetahs in Kuno. These cubs are born in Kuno National Park. But it is not a major behavioural change but local adaptation”, field director of the park, Uttam Kumar Sharma, told this newspaper on Sunday.
According to some forest officers of Kuno, several cheetah cubs were found to be crossing flooded rivers in Kuno ‘fearlessly’ during the current monsoon season, much to their amazement.
The felines seemed to enjoy swimming in the river, sources said.
“Cheetahs typically are not swimmers for pleasure. But they will swim to cross a water body in search of prey or new home range”, South African cheetah expert Susan Yannetti told this newspaper.
Similarly, cheetahs in Kuno were found to be drinking water even thrice a day from water holes in Kuno National Park, which is uncharacteristic of cheetahs.
Cheetahs usually quench their thirst by drinking fluid (blood) of their prey and they then do not need to consume fluid for another three days, experts say.
Mr. Sharma explained that unlike African summer, the summer in Shivpuri district, under which Kuno National Park falls, is usually very harsh and the cheetahs in Kuno need to take water twice or thrice a day to escape dehydration.
That’s the reason why the cheetahs were found to be taking water from the water bodies in Kuno National Park particularly in summer, he said.
Some sub-adult cheetahs in Kuno have been found to have hunted medium-sized blue bulls, unlike African cheetahs which usually hunt the small prey such as springbok, and impala.
The African cheetahs however hunt medium-sized-animals whey they hunt in coalition.
Kuno National Park now has 25 cheetahs including nine adults (six females and three males) and 16 cubs and sub-adults, all are India-born.
This apart, three cheetahs from Kuno have been shifted to the Gandhi Sagar wildlife sanctuary in the state.
Eight cheetahs were brought to Kuno from Namibia in September 2022 and 12 cheetahs were later shifted to Kuno from South Africa in February 2023 under the cheetah reintroduction project.