Mating violence is common in cheetahs say experts after third cat dies at Kuno

• Third translocated Namibian cheetah Daksha dies in Kuno National Park, MP due to a violent mating interaction with male cheetahs.
  
• 3 out of the 20 cheetahs brought in under Project Cheetah have died between 27th March and 10th May.
  
• “Such violent behaviours by male coalition cheetahs towards female cheetahs during mating are common,” the government said.
  

Another cheetah was found dead in Kuno National Park, Madhya Pradesh, on May 9 marking the third fatality in about 45 days among the big cats translocated to India as part of a revival plan.

The death of the cheetah named Daksha leaves behind just 17 of the 20 cheetahs that were translocated from South Africa beginning September 2022 as part of an initiative to revive cheetahs in India, about 70 years after the mammals became extinct in the country. The initiative, Project Cheetah, plans to introduce 50 cheetahs in the next five years.

Daksha, died after a violent mating interaction with an adult male coalition, which included two male cheetahs, Agni and Varsha. Officials said that Daksha had been released in enclosure number 1 and the male cheetahs had been released from boma 7 (enclosure) for mating, after which they turned violent .

A meeting of officials – attended by Inspector General of National Tiger Conservation Authority Amit Mallick, Wildlife Institute of India’s Qamar Qureshi, and the Cheetah Meta Population Initiative’s Vincent van der Merwe – was conducted on 30 April in which the decision to allow this mating was made.

“Such violent behaviours by male coalition cheetahs towards female cheetahs during mating are common. In such a situation, the chances of intervention by the monitoring team are almost non-existent and practically impossible,” the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said in a statement.

This follows on the heels of the death of a female cheetah, Sasha, in late March due to kidney failure and a male cheetah, Uday in late April due to what was later determined as a heart attack.

Is such violent behaviour normal?

After sexual maturity, adult females are solitary and they only interact with males during mating. Females thus live a mostly solitary life after splitting off from their group, raising their cubs on their own. Male siblings remain together throughout their life. These groups of male siblings are called coalitions. If a female tries to escape the mating attempts of these coalitions, it can lead to violence and extreme aggression by the males.

Conservationist van der Merwe said, “It is not unusual for male cheetahs to exhibit aggressive behaviour towards each other, as well as towards females. Cheetahs killing other cheetahs account for 8% of cheetah mortality in the Southern African metapopulation.”

SEE ALSO:
Go First cancels all flights till May 19 citing operational reasons
Hyundai reveals Exter SUV ahead of launch with 5 trims and expected starting price of ₹6 lakh