In Tamil
comedy film ‘Kalakalappu’, directed by Sundar C ~ Santhanam will show a
portrait of a man attacking a cheetah with sickle. Vimal would remark having
seen it elsewhere… Santhanam retorts saying that it was his grandfather
attacking the tiger – the photo which they later gave to matchbox
manufacturer….. to Vimal’s remark that it does not sound believable – Santhanam
would say that his grandfather told him that food would be provided only if he
believes and would ask Vimal whether he would like to dine or not !!!
Wimco Limited is a reputed manufacturer and exporter of Cardboard
matches, Veneer Matches, Safety Matches, Match Box, Wax Matches and the more…
you would know them better by this single product ‘Cheetah fight matchboxes’…..
Cheetah is a marvel ~ the fastest land animal. Its
slender, long-legged body is built for speed. Cheetahs are tan in color
with black spots all over their bodies. They can also be distinguished from other
big cats by their smaller size, spotted coats, small heads and ears and
distinctive "tear stripes" that stretch from the corner of the eye to
the side of the nose. They eat mainly gazelles, wildebeest calves, impalas and
smaller hoofed animals. When cheetahs are running, they use their tails to help
them steer and turn in the direction they want to go, like the rudder of a
boat.
In 1900, there
were over 100,000 cheetahs across their historic range. Today, an estimated
9,000 to 12,000 cheetahs remain in the wild in Africa. One would be surprised
to know that they were found throughout India right from the southern part of
the Nation. Found mostly in open and
partially open savannah, cheetahs rely on tall grasses for camouflage when
hunting. Surprised to read that they
cannot roar !! – typically they are loners.
Their lifespan in the wild
is reportedly 10-12 years only. As it is
happening to many, the sleek, speedy cheetah is rapidly heading towards
extinction according to a new study into declining numbers. Fresh reports suggest that there are just 7,100 of the world's fastest
mammals now left in the wild. They are in trouble mainly because they range far
beyond protected areas and are coming increasingly into conflict with humans.
According to a study, more than half the world's surviving cheetahs live in one
population that ranges across six countries in southern Africa. Cheetahs in
Asia have been essentially wiped out. A group estimated to number fewer than 50
individuals clings on in Iran. Because the cheetah is one of the widest-ranging
carnivores, it roams across lands far outside protected areas. As a result, the
animal struggles because these lands are increasingly being developed by
farmers and the cheetah's prey is declining because of bushmeat hunting.
In Zimbabwe, the cheetah
population has fallen from around 1,200 to just 170 animals in 16 years, with
the main cause being major changes in land tenure. The illegal trade in cheetah
cubs has been driven by their status as a fashion icon in the Gulf states.
Researchers involved with the study say that the threats facing the fabled
predator have gone unnoticed for far too long. The young cats can fetch up to
$10,000 on the black market. According to the Cheetah Conservation Fund, some
1,200 cheetah cubs are known to have been trafficked out of Africa over the
past 10 years but around 85% of them died during the journey.
It is stated that till last century, the Asiatic cheetah was
quite common and roamed all the way from Israel, the Arabian Peninsula to Iran,
Afghanistan and India. In India, they ranged as far south as the Tirunelveli
district of Tamil Nadu. The Asiatic cheetah, also known as the "hunting
leopard" in India was kept by kings and princes to hunt gazelle; the
Moghul emperor Akbar kept them for hunting gazelle and blackbucks. .. ..
blackbucks have been hunted for long !! is also the message.
Madhya
Pradesh’s Kuno National Park will get African Cheetahs as part of India’s first
inter-country big cat relocation project, a senior state forest department
official said after the MP government received a confirmation from the Union
ministry of environment, forest and climate change. Five male cheetahs and
three females will be donated by Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) of South
Africa, said Alok Kumar, principal chief conservator of forest (Wildlife).
Cheetah, the world's
fastest land animal which was declared extinct in India in 1952, is expected to
be re-introduced into the country in November this year at the Kuno National
Park in Madhya Pradesh, state Forest Minister Vijay Shah. The country's last
spotted cheetah died in Chhattisgarh in 1947 and it was declared extinct in the
country in 1952. The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) some years back prepared
a cheetah re-introduction project. The Supreme Court had earlier given its
approval to introduce African cheetahs to a suitable habitat in India on an
experimental basis. "We have started the process of creating an enclosure
for around 10 cheetahs, including five females, to be brought from South Africa
to Kuno in Sheopur district and it is going to be completed by August,"
Shah told PTI. Officials from India will
be sent to South Africa for sensitisation and training in June and July this
year and according to the plan, the transportation of the cheetahs will take
place in October and November, he said.
Kuno, located in the
Chambal region, is spread over an area of over 750 sq km and has a conducive
environment for the cheetah, he said. The
protected area, comprising a considerable population of four-horned antelopes,
chinkara, nilgai, wild boar, spotted deer and sambar, has a good prey base for
the cheetahs, he added. "According to the approved timeline sent to us by
the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change this week, the tentative
budget outlay of the 'Project Cheetah' is Rs 1,400 lakh for this fiscal,"
the minister said. An expert from South Africa visited the Kuno National Park
on April 26 this year along with scientists from the WII and inspected the
facilities and habitat created there for the introduction of African cheetahs.
They approved it and now the final process of bringing the cheetah is underway,
a forest official said.
“Managing cheetahs is much
easier than large carnivores like tigers, lions, and leopards, which we have
been doing all these years, as these big cats enter into least conflict with
humans,” said Jhala, who was also involved in all the technical aspects of the
NTCA’s Project Tiger in 2002. “The main factor that will impact the success of
this translocation project is the central government’s political will and
allocation of resources and funding,” Jhala added. However, experts also noted
that the lack of a separate sanctuary for cheetahs might be a barrier in establishing
a viable population in the India. In Africa, 77 per cent of cheetahs live
outside protected areas because of other larger predators, all of which compete
with cheetahs for prey and also prey on cheetah cubs. But the Rajasthan government has already
filed a petition in the Supreme Court claiming conflict between lions and
tigers in Madhya Pradesh because a natural corridor of movement exists between
Kuno in MP and Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan.
In
neighbouring Bangladesh - the Bengal Tiger and the cheetah have lived side by
side in the forest areas of the country’s three hill tract districts during
1980's. The Bengal Tiger is not seen there anymore and now lives in the
Sundarbans only. Cheetahs are barely surviving in the forests of the three hill
tracts districts and three another forest areas and the cheetah population has
fallen low. According to
wildlife researchers and organisations, there are still 30 to 50 cheetahs in
the country. A big portion of them live in the forest areas of Khagrachhari,
Bandarban and Rangamati. Cheetahs are occasionally seen in Cox's Bazar, several
places of Sylhet division and the northern region including Sherpur,
Lalmonirhat, Kurigram and Panchagarh.
Miles away, decades ago,
there reportedly was organized Cheetah racing in Romford, in UK. It is alleged that during the late 1930s,
cheetah racing took place at a number of venues. Millionaire Kenneth Cecil
Gandar-Dower (1908-44), a leading sportsman, aviator, explorer and author, had
embarked upon an unsuccessful expedition to Kenya in 1934 to find evidence for
the marozi, a spotted lion rumoured to exist there. Returning in December 1936,
he brought back to England 12 cheetahs, captured in the woods by farmers. Rumours abounded that they were for coursing
live game and in February 1937, questions were raised in Parliament about his
intentions. Public opinion was outraged and two cheetahs were subsequently
found dead in their cages by their keeper. Gandar-Dower gave assurances that he
was doing nothing illegal or inhumane and set about training the cheetahs to
race with the help of Raymond Hook – the anglicised name of Hooku, a ranger
from Kenya.
In June
1937, after acclimatisation to their new environment and six months' quarantine
at Hackbridge Kennels in Surrey, an Australian.
Ruby Henderson, was enlisted to train and care for the cheetahs at
Harringay Stadium. It was stated that
cheetahs responded more readily to females. By the time she became involved,
only nine cheetahs remained; these were named Helen, Gussie, Maurice, Luis,
Pongo, Sita, Gypsy, James and Michael.
On the first night, three races were included on the race card and the
stadium was packed to capacity. The first race, over 265 yards, was between Helen
and two greyhounds. She bounded out of her cage leaving the dogs standing,
reaching 50mph within two seconds and finishing the tack in 15.86 seconds,
breaking the course record.
The
astounded audience had never witnessed anything like this before. The national
press eagerly published stories about Helen’s success, nicknaming her Queen of
the Track. However, the second race, between Gussie and James, was a portent of
the shortcomings of racing cheetahs. With Gussie taking the lead, James simply
ceased running and lay down, refusing to finish the course. The earlier excitement generated by the races
diminished as predictability of the outcome dawned upon spectators. Although
Romford Stadium continued to hold further occasional events involving cheetahs,
it was more for spectacle, rather than competition.
With
hindsight, cheetah racing had been ill-considered. Cheetahs are solitary
hunters and expend a phenomenal level of physical exertion when catching their
prey, usually necessitating that they lie down and recuperate afterwards. They
will only chase prey where there is a high likelihood of securing their next
meal, readily giving up if there is strong competition – they lack the will and
doggedness necessary for competitive racing.
By April 1938, bored with the predictability of racing against
greyhounds, Gandar-Dower devised another spectacle – racing cheetahs against a
motorcycle. In May Harringay Stadium witnessed the first such race with live
radio commentary. Not long afterwards the cheetahs were sold to circus veteran
Jack Harvey. They continued to tour the country until the outbreak of war, but
what became of them thereafter is unknown. As for Gandar-Dower, he lost his
life in 1944 on a troopship sailing from Mombasa to Ceylon when it was
torpedoed by a Japanese submarine.
During a
holiday trip to Gir – in an open truck for nearly 2 hours – we could not spot a
single wild animal – leave alone sighting majestic Asiatic Lions ! .. .. may be
one sights Cheetah in India !
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
27th MaY 2021.
Cheetah photos
from twitter page : @HourlyCheetahs
