Ritika
Nagpur. Vidarbha has a dense forest. There are sanctuaries like Tadoba, Pench, where tigers, leopards and other wildlife roam freely. Why is no effort being made to settle cheetahs here in such a situation? This question is burning in the minds of the people of Vidarbha. An attempt has been made to know the opinion of wildlife lovers on this issue. Honorary Wildlife Guard Ajinkya Bhatkar says that Nagpur is certainly famous as the Tiger Capital, but the forests here are not conducive for cheetahs. He said that the way of hunting all wild animals is different. Accordingly, they choose their domicile.
Tiger and leopard hunt by ambush. In contrast, the cheetah exhausts its prey by running, then kills it. Grassland is needed for this. The dense forest hinders the cheetah’s speed. The fastest animal on earth is the cheetah. It can run at a speed of 113 kmph. Bhatkar says that tigers and leopards are present in large numbers in Vidarbha, in such a situation, there will be a shortage of herbivorous creatures like deer, sambar, chital, wild boar etc.
These animals will migrate to the population in search of food. This situation will lead to incidents of human-wildlife conflict. Apart from this, animals like tiger, leopard do not allow other strong animals to live in their area. In areas where there are tigers, there are less leopards. Similarly, where there are more leopards, there are less tigers.
Tiger and leopard are more powerful than cheetah. Therefore, bringing cheetahs to the forests of Vidarbha may make it difficult for them to survive. Grass (grass) expert Dr. Gajanan Muratkar says that the behavior of all wild animals is different. Accordingly, they choose their domicile. The habitat for the cheetah should be bush and open grassland. Vidarbha does not have huge grasslands. There should be about 8 percent grassland in Vidarbha, while the availability is only 2 percent. Due to the shortage of herbivorous animals like deer, chital etc., their food crisis will arise. Apart from this, an environment like Africa is also not available.
Cheetah kept thinking of leopard
Cheetah was seen in India in the year 1952, after which no evidence of its presence was found. However, for a long time, people kept thinking of the leopard as a cheetah, due to which there was confusion about its extinction. The survey was conducted by the Wildlife Institute of India in the year 2010. After which the Kuno National Park, located on the border of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, was selected for the domicile of cheetahs. After about 70 years, efforts are being made to recreate the (re-introduction) eco-system by bringing Cheetah to India. Wildlife lovers are considering this initiative of the central government as good.
