It has been more than four years since cheetahs were brought back to India on September 17, 2022, marking the beginning of Project Cheetah after the species became extinct in the country in the 1950s. As wildlife experts and scientists assess the progress of this ambitious initiative, cheetahs are gradually being moved to new locations, including Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve (VDTR) and Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh, beyond their original home at Kuno National Park.
But a big question remains: Can Kuno’s cheetahs successfully share space with other carnivores and adapt to landscapes inhabited by tigers, leopards and other wildlife? The answer lies in understanding their behaviour, habitat preferences and ability to coexist. Through staggered movement patterns and camera-trap surveys, researchers are tracking predator activity and studying how these animals use the same landscapes at different times while avoiding direct confrontations. Emerging findings are offering important insights into the ecological challenges and possibilities of reintroducing cheetahs into India’s wildlife habitats.
Indian Masterminds spoke with Uttam Kumar Sharma, a 1999-batch IFS officer, Chief Conservator of Forests and Field Director of Kuno National Park and Project Cheetah, and Rajnish Kumar Singh, a 2017-batch IFS officer promoted from the State Forest Service, who heads Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve.
Expanding Beyond Kuno: Two New Homes for Cheetahs
Under Project Cheetah, two additional sites have been developed: Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary and Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve. While both are intended to support the long-term expansion of the cheetah population, their immediate management strategies differ.
Explaining the arrangements at Gandhi Sagar, Mr Sharma said, “An area of 65 square kilometres has been fenced, and the idea is to keep the cheetahs within that area.”
The fenced landscape has been designed to minimise encounters with other large carnivores. According to Sharma, leopards have been removed from the area, and there are no major hyena populations there. However, he acknowledged that a leopard could potentially enter from the side adjoining the Gandhi Sagar Dam and its water body.
Read Also: Madhya Pradesh: CM Mohan Yadav Releases Vyom and Neera, State Gets Third Cheetah Habitat
At VDTR, the initial approach is to allow the animals to settle into a protected holding area before their eventual release into the wider landscape. Approximately 418 hectares have been fenced to create what Sharma described as a soft-release zone. The arrangement is similar to the larger fenced area developed at Kuno, where cheetahs were initially kept within designated zones.
The long-term objective is to move towards release into the wild, subject to the animals’ adaptation and the decisions of the monitoring authorities.
Can Cheetahs and Tigers Share the Same Landscape?
The presence of tigers is among the most frequently raised concerns about introducing cheetahs into new Indian habitats. Tigers are powerful predators, and people naturally wonder whether a smaller carnivore such as the cheetah can survive alongside them.
Mr Sharma believes the presence of one predator does not automatically make the survival of another impossible.
“When it comes to coexistence between cheetahs and tigers, there is no particular problem because they are two different predators. They can coexist,” he said.
He pointed to Panna Tiger Reserve, where tigers and leopards live in the same landscape, as an example of how different carnivore species can share an ecosystem. Animals do not necessarily engage in direct confrontation every time they encounter another predator. They can adjust their movements and avoid one another.
IFS Sharma also recalled that cheetahs released into the wild from Kuno had travelled to Ranthambore, while others moved around Madhav National Park. Both landscapes have tigers.
“The idea is not that whenever they see one another, they will immediately start fighting,” he explained.
Mr Singh offered a similar perspective, emphasising that the animals have different habitat preferences and survival strategies.
“Cheetahs prefer grasslands, while tigers prefer woodland and dense forest habitats,” he said, adding that different habitat patches within the same landscape allow wildlife to use the environment according to its needs.
Different Habitats, Different Hunting Strategies
Habitat preference is central to understanding how cheetahs and other carnivores may coexist. Cheetahs depend on open grasslands, where they can spot prey from a distance and use their speed during a chase. Tigers, by contrast, generally favour woodland and denser forest habitats that suit their hunting strategies.
IFS Singh explained that these differences extend to the prey the animals typically target.
“A tiger will generally look for prey weighing around 70–90 kilograms,” he said. A cheetah, according to his explanation, may target prey weighing around 40–50 or 60 kilograms, while a leopard may hunt prey weighing approximately 20–25 kilograms.
These are broad patterns rather than rigid rules, but they illustrate how predators can occupy different ecological niches. Their food requirements, hunting techniques and preferred habitats do not always overlap completely.
Sharma stressed that maintaining a suitable landscape is important for this balance. “We just need to provide a landscape that has grasslands as well as dense forests, so that both types of habitats are available.”
He also explained that many grasslands in these reserves developed on land that had previously been used for agriculture or village settlements. Following village relocations over the years, such areas have been maintained as grasslands, providing open habitat for species that depend on it.
At VDTR, more than 50 villages have been relocated, while 25 villages have been relocated in Kuno, Mr Sharma said. The management of these landscapes, therefore, is an important part of creating suitable conditions for wildlife.
Read Also: Project Cheetah’s Untold Story: The Negotiations, Challenges and Diplomacy Behind the Mission | Book
The Instinct to Survive: Why Cheetahs May Avoid a Fight
One of the most important factors in predator coexistence is behaviour. While humans may imagine a confrontation whenever two large carnivores occupy the same forest, animals do not necessarily respond in that way.
“Animals are not that foolish. They have instincts,” Mr Sharma said.
According to him, wild animals learn to recognise potential threats and respond according to the situation. A cheetah may chase away a jackal or confront certain smaller animals, but it is likely to retreat when faced with a leopard.
“Nobody needs to teach it that. It does not need someone to tell it to run away when it sees a leopard,” he said.
Such responses are not guarantees against conflict, but they are part of the natural strategies animals use to survive. Sharma compared these instincts with the behaviour of a mother protecting her young. Even without being taught, an animal may move its offspring away from a den, distract a potential threat or attempt to defend its young when danger approaches.
“These behaviours are instinctive. Animals are instinctive beings. These are their survival instincts,” he explained.
The same principle may help cheetahs respond to unfamiliar predators in India. Although the cheetahs brought from Africa may never have encountered tigers before, they can still recognise a large carnivore as a potential threat. Learning the specific behaviour of a new predator, however, may take time.
The ‘Killing Instinct’ and the Reality of Chance Encounters
Natural instincts do not mean that every encounter will end peacefully. A cheetah feeding on a kill may suddenly come face-to-face with a leopard. In such a situation, competition over food could trigger a confrontation.
Mr Sharma acknowledged this possibility. “A cheetah might be eating, and a leopard could arrive. In such situations, there could certainly be one or two cases of conflict. But this cannot be a permanent feature.”
The distinction is between occasional conflict and constant hostility. In a shared ecosystem, some animals may be injured or killed during encounters, particularly when one predator has a clear physical advantage. However, such incidents do not automatically mean that two species cannot inhabit the same wider landscape.
Mr Sharma cited jackals living in forests inhabited by leopards as an example. A leopard may kill a jackal if they encounter each other, yet jackals continue to survive in these environments.
Mr Singh also noted that the outcome of an encounter can depend on the circumstances. A leopard may overpower a solitary cheetah, while the balance could change when multiple cheetahs are together. The animals respond to the immediate situation rather than following one fixed pattern.
A Gradual Transition into the Wild
At Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve, the cheetahs are being allowed to acclimatise after their arrival. Mr Singh said a Government of India-level monitoring committee would assess the animals and decide when they should be released from the holding area.
“The period for which the cheetahs will remain in the den or holding area will be decided by the monitoring committee,” he said.
The staged approach reflects the need to monitor the animals’ adjustment before moving them into a larger landscape. Their future will depend not only on their ability to hunt and avoid threats, but also on the availability of suitable habitat and the way they respond to the new environment.
Project Cheetah has already demonstrated the complexity of reintroducing a species into a landscape that has changed significantly since its extinction in India. Expanding beyond Kuno adds another challenge: understanding how the returning animals will interact with established wildlife populations.
For IFS officers Sharma and Singh, however, the presence of other carnivores is not, by itself, a reason to assume that cheetahs cannot survive. Habitat management, monitoring and the animals’ own survival instincts will all play a role.
The larger lesson is that conservation is not simply about bringing a species back. It is about creating the conditions in which it can live, adapt and become part of a functioning ecosystem. As India’s cheetahs explore new landscapes, their ability to coexist with other predators will remain an important test of Project Cheetah’s long-term success.
Read Also: Rare Cheetah Bond in Kuno: 2 Unrelated Males Hunt, Groom & Defend Territory Together
