Why in news?  India and South Africa have finally signed a long-pending agreement to translocate 12 cheetahs to India

Highlights

• The introduction of Cheetah in India is being done under Project Cheetah, the world’s first inter-continental large wild carnivore translocation project.
• The cheetahs will be transported to India and reintroduced at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, where eight such cats were brought from Namibia in last year under a similar agreement.
• The MOU on Reintroduction of Cheetah to India facilitates
• Cooperation between the parties to establish a viable and secure cheetah population in India
• Promotes conservation and ensures that expertise is shared and exchanged, and capacity built, to promote cheetah conservation,
• The country’s last spotted cheetah died in Sal forests of Chhattisgarh’s Koriya district in 1948 and declared extinct from India in 1952

About South African cheetah

• There habitation is grasslands, savannahs, scrub forests, and arid environments such as deserts and semi desert steppes.
• Their IUCN status is Vulnerable

About Asiatic cheetah

• It is a critically endangered cheetah subspecies currently only surviving in Iran.
• India was once home to Asiatic cheetah and now considered extinct in the country
• Habitation is mainly open lands, small plains, semi-desert areas, and other open habitats where prey is available.

About Kuno national park

• National park and Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh,
• It is part of the Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests Eco region.
• River kuno flows through this park
• Vegetation includes scrub, , dry savannah forest and grassland and tropical riverine forest.