About Kuno National Park – Cheetahs, History, Wildlife, & 7 Interesting Facts

National Parks of India plays a vital role in balancing the ecosystem. They are the shelter of millions of plants and animal life. Today we are going to talk about one of the most popular National Park of India, Kuno National Park which is the magnificence of Madhya Pradesh.

In this write-up, we will uncover all the necessary details about the Kuno National Park including Kuno National Park history, Kuno National Park Geographical details, and location, Kuno National Park wildlife, Kuno National Park photos, Kuno National Park Cheetah, Kuno National Park area in acres, Kuno National Park Asha, female Cheetah Daksha in Kuno National Park, some interesting facts about Kuno National Park, etc. So just keep visiting the wildlife of Kuno National Park through our write-up.

Kuno National Park

Kuno National Park is situated in the Shoepur and Morena districts of Madhya Pradesh. It is one of the most popular National Parks of MP for its wildlife sanctuary and suitable habitat for leopard reintroduction. There is a lot to learn about Kuno National Park. So let’s have a look at Kuno National Park history.

Kuno National Park History

Kuno National Park was established in the year 1981 with the aim to save and protect the wildlife sheltered in the area of 344.68 km2. If we travel back to the time of the Mughal Emperor in India, Abul Fazal confirmed that this area was the habitat of Lions. 

Asiatic Lions or Lions are found in the Gir Jungles of Gujrat only. Due to the reduced number of Lions in India, in 1990, it was planned to relocate Lions in the Kuno National Park because it was expected to be a suitable habitat for the Lions. But Gujrat state did not support this opinion as they did not want to lose the tag of being the only home of Lions in the world.

But this resistance did not work and Supreme Court ordered Gujrat to relocate some of the Lions to Kuno National Park in April 2013 and gave a period of six months to transfer the Lions. Hence Kuno National Park could be the second location for Asiatic Lions in India but Gujrat did not carry out the order of the Supreme Court till now.

But remember, until now this area was just a wildlife sanctuary. In the year 2018, it was stated Kuno National Park due to the name Kuno River and expanded the protected area by 413 km2.

Kuno National Park Cheetah

Kuno National Park was selected for the reintroduction of Cheetahs in India. The first batch of 8 Cheetahs in India was welcomed on 17 September 2022 from Namibia, South Africa. Out of these 8, 5 were female and 3 were male. The second batch of 12 Cheetahs landed in Kuno National Park on 18 February 2023.

Kuno National Park cheetah were 20 in number but we lost some of them in the last few months. The first cheetah to die was a female named Sasha on 27 March 2023. After Sasha, a male Cheetah named Uday died on 23 April 2023.

And now another female cheetah named Daksha has died on 9th May 2023 at around 12 noon. It is said that the monitoring team found Daksha in an injured condition, so the necessary treatment was immediately given to her, but Daksha could not survive. 

Apart from that, there was a piece of good news as well before we lost any of the 20 Cheetahs. A female cheetah named Siyaya gave birth to four cubs on 24 March 2023. It was the biggest success in the mission of revival of the leopard population in India after the extinction of this species 70 years ago.

Kuno National Park Cheetah Names

Cheetahs were also given new names along with a new home. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, named a female Cheetah Asha as they are the hope of revival this species in India. The name of the other seven Cheetahs are – Elton, Freddie, Oban (Male), Siyaya, Tbilisi, Sasha, and Savannah (female).

Kuno National Park Geographical Details

Kuno National Park is situated in the Shoepur and Morena districts of Madhya Pradesh and is part of the Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests ecoregion. If we talk about the Kuno National Park area in acres, this forest is spread over 85173.76 acres or 344.686 km² or 133.084 sq mi.

Kuno National Park is considered one of the rare jungle areas as it is situated in the Vindhyanchal Range and is completely filled with plateaus and gorges. The wildlife sanctuary was named Kuno National Park on the name of the Kuno River flows through the National Park. Kuno River is more than 180 Kilometers in length.

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Kuno National Park Wildlife

You can see diverse wildlife in Kuno National Park including flora and fauna. So here are sharing the dominant species of plant and animal life that lies in the National Park.

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Flora in Kuno National Park

Some of the species of Flora in Kuno National Park are Palash, Salai, Tendu, Kardhai, Khair, etc are present. If we conclude the number of all the present species of Flora in KNP then, there are 123 species of trees, 71 species of shrubs, 32 species of climber and exotic, and 34 species of bamboo and grass present.

Fauna in Kuno National Park

KNP is a rare and unique National Park situated in Central India and is the shelter of numerous fauna species along with flora. So here we will see some of the most common species of fauna in Kuno National Park.

Southeast African Tiger, Indian Leopard, Indian Wolf, Jungle Cat, Indian Jackal, Chital, Sambhar, Chinkara, Nilgai, Chousingha, Blackbuck, Crocodile, etc. There are more than 33 species of mammals, 33 species of reptiles, 206 species of birds, 14 species of fish, and 10 species of amphibians.

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Facts About Kuno National Park

There are some interesting and unknown facts about Kuno National Park that you must read up on. So some of them are as follows.

• Kuno National Park’s name was given in 2018 after the name of the Kuno River flows through the Park.
• Kuno National Park falls under Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests ecoregion.
• It was selected for the relocation of the Asiatic Lion from the Gir jungle of Gujrat but Gujrat resisted this order by Supreme Court and did not transfer the Lions to KNP.
• After 70 years of leopard extinction in India, 8 Tigers were reintroduced in India on 17 September 2022 and transferred to KNP from Namibia, South Africa.12
• 12 more leopards were welcomed in the mission of revival of extinct Tigers at the same location on 18 February 2023.
• It is said that bringing the leopards back to India is another way to escape from the Lion transfer from Gir, Gujrat to KNP because Gujrat did not want to lose the tag to be the only Asiatic Lion State in the world.

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Conclusion

KNP is the only hope for the revival of leopards in India. After the death of 2 female Cheehas and one male Cheetah, the monitoring team has assured that the rest Cheehas are healthy and performing all the necessary actions of day-to-day life.

In this write-up, we have discussed each and aspect of KNP including  Kuno National Park history, Kuno National Park Geographical details and location, Kuno National Park wildlife, Kuno National Park photos, Kuno National Park Cheetah, Kuno National Park area in acres, Kuno National Park Asha, female Cheetah Daksha in Kuno National Park, some interesting facts about Kuno National Park, etc. Hope the content was useful and informative enough for you. Thanks for reading.

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