Overview
- The monitoring team, which checked the den site Tuesday morning, found all four cubs dead with deep bite wounds and partially eaten bodies that officials say point to a leopard.
- The litter was born on April 11 to KGP12, marking the first time an India-born cheetah living free in the wild had given birth outside an enclosure.
- Officials said the mother, KGP12, is safe and healthy nearby as necropsies and forensic tests proceed to confirm the exact cause of death.
- Kuno now reports 50 cheetahs, including 33 born in India, with India’s total at 53 when including three at Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary.
- The landscape holds many rival predators such as leopards and hyenas, and experts note wild cheetah cub survival can be very low in the first months.