BHOPAL: Following the death of the first cub earlier, today two more cubs of cheetah Jwala died in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park. Cheetah Jwala (Siyaya) gave birth to four cubs on March 24 this year.
The fourth young cheetah, whose condition is still serious, has been kept under monitoring while the other three have already passed away, as per statement by the Kuno National Park.
Six cheetahs have died in Kuno during the past two months, including three that were relocated from African countries, according to the most recent death. One cub remains in Kuno National Park after the deaths of two cub cheetahs.
Sasha, a cheetah from Namibia, died on March 27 from kidney disease, while Uday, a cheetah from South Africa, passed away on April 13. On May 9, Daksha, a cheetah brought from South Africa, suffered injuries during a mating attempt and later perished.
The loss is well within expected mortality rates for cheetah cubs." For wild cheetahs, cub mortality is very high. Because of this, cheetahs have evolved to have larger litter sizes than other wild cats., official said, adding that can offset the high cub death rate thanks to this.
Dehydration was cited as the cause of death. In a litter of cheetah cubs, the weaker ones would usually suckle less than the stronger ones. 'Survival of the fittest' should be considered when analysing this death. Weaker cheetahs will disappear from the gene pool as a result of natural selection. To the benefit of wild cheetah survival, this makes sure that only the strongest and fittest survive, KNP official said.
Bad news from MP, another cheetah died in Kuno National Park