Madhya Pradesh: Kuno Develops Special Mechanism For Cheetah Den Site Monitoring To Improve Cub Survival

BHOPAL: Conservationists in the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh have developed a special mechanism for cheetah den site monitoring to improve cub survival. The monitoring mechanism developed in Kuno strictly balances intensive surveillance with non-invasive distancing, a senior forest officer told this newspaper on Sunday. The mechanism is a departure from the normal practice adopted in cheetah habitats of Africa seeking to leave the cheetah den sites alone without any kind of intervention, contributing to cub mortalities in many cases. While Kuno utilizes a dedicated team of over 100 forest guards and animal trackers to monitor newborns, the protocol explicitly dictates that ‘The staff has to stay as far as they can from the den itself’. To bypass physical proximity, the Kuno National Park uses 24/7 CCTV surveillance cameras, real-time satellite data from mother’s satellite collars, and drone monitoring to assess the family’s health without human intervention.