Notwithstanding the Kuno National Park (KNP) management’s claims of 24×7 monitoring and surveillance of Cheetahs in the park, it took them eight days to notice that South-African Cheetah ‘Gamini’ has actually given birth to six cubs, not five.

On 10 March, the park management had informed that Gamini had given birth to her first litter of five cubs. Union Forests and Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav had also shared the good news on his X account.

Advertisement

However, on Monday the minister informed that the five-year-old feline mother had given birth to six cubs.

”Gamini’s legacy leaps forward!

There is no end to joy: It is not five, but six cubs! A week after the news of five cubs born to Gamini, it is now confirmed that Gamini, the South African cheetah mother, has given birth to six cubs, a record of sorts for a first-time mother. Sharing the joy with visuals of Gamini’s adorable six cubs…,” he wrote while sharing the picture of the cubs.

The minister’s update came after a surveillance team of the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department saw in the KNP that there are actually six cubs of Gamini and not five.

Presently, the cubs are static at one spot and not even in a condition to roam around.

Nonetheless, with the good news about the six cubs born to Gamini, the total number of Cheetahs in the KNP has gone up to 27, including 13 adults and 14 cubs.

The 14 cubs include, the most recent six of Gamini and five of Namibian Cheetah Jwala — one from her first litter of March 2023 and four of her second litter on 23 January 2024. The remaining three cubs are of Namibian Cheetah Asha and were born on 2 January 2024.

Under the ambitious Cheetah reintroduction Project, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his birthday on 17 September 2022 had released eight Namibian Cheetahs — five females and three males — into special enclosures at the KNP located in the Sheopur district of MP.

In February 2023, another set of 12 Cheetahs were brought to the KNP from South Africa.