Female cheetah Daksha dies in Kuno due to violent mating interaction

A female cheetah – Daksha - brought in from South Africa to Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh in February this year died on Tuesday, apparently due to injuries sustained during violent mating interaction with two adult cheetahs, also brought from from South Africa.

She is the third cheetah, from among the 20 big cats brought in from Namibia and South Africa to KNP as part of an ambitious inter-continental translocation project, to die in six weeks.

Sasha, a six-year-old female brought in from Namibia along with seven others on September 17, had died on March 27 due to renal infection. On April 23, a male renamed Uday, who was brought in with 11 others from South Africa on February 18, died after being seen staggering in his enclosure.

On the bright side, a female cheetah from Namibia, Siyaya, gave birth to four cubs on April 29. However, now only 17 of the 20 translocated cheetahs remain in the KNP.

An official release said Daksha was found in an injured condition in enclosure number 1 of the KNP on Tuesday by the monitoring team at around 10.45 am. She was provided treatment by veterinarians but succumbed around noon.

The note further said in a meeting held on April 30 at the KNP, attended by Amit Mallick, inspector general of forests (IGF) of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), Qamar Qureshi of Wildlife Institute of India and South African experts Adrian Todriffe and Vincent van der Merwe, a decision for mating between Daksha and adult two males Vayu and Agni – all brought in from South Africa—was taken.

In keeping with the decision, the gate between enclosure 1 where Daksha was kept and enclosure 7 where the two-male coalition was kept was opened on May 1. The males entered enclosure number 1 on May 6, the note said.

“The injuries found on the female cheetah Daksha prima facie appear to be the result of violent interaction, likely during mating. Violent behaviour toward females by male coalition during mating is common. In such a situation, the chances of intervention by the monitoring team are close to nil,” the official release said. It added that the postmortem of the dead cheetah was being performed by a team of veterinarians as per protocol.

Male cheetahs are often known to form coalitions or partnerships with their brothers, or other unrelated males, to hunt together. They stick close and often compete for mating with females too.