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Journalism of Courage
As India celebrates Wildlife Week 2024 let’s dive deep into one of the biggest headlines for India’s fauna. India officially joined the International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) in September this year. The International Big Cat Alliance, established last year to honour Project Tiger’s 50th anniversary, aims to raise awareness for protecting seven big cats.
India is home to five of the seven big cats: the tiger, lion, leopard, snow leopard, and cheetah, except for the puma and jaguar. But what are these big cats, how do they differ from each other and where are they found? What are their numbers, and significant steps the government took towards their conservation? Here’s all you need to know abot the seven big cats.
Panthera tigris tigris, the continental tiger, and Panthera tigris sondaica, the Sunda tiger, are the two recognised subspecies of tigers. For hunting purposes, tigers mostly rely on hearing and sight rather than smell. They usually stalk their prey while hunting alone. According to the World Wildlife Fund, over 80 pounds of meat can be consumed by a tiger in one sitting.
According to the fifth cycle of the All India Tiger Estimation 2022 summary report, India is home to about 3,167 tigers, accounting for more than 70 per cent of the world’s wild tigers.
Steps taken towards conservation
Indian Board for Wild Life (IBWL): The International Union for Conservation of Nature endorsed the board’s proposal to outright forbid the export of any wild cat skins, including tigers’.
Project Tiger: It was a centrally sponsored scheme launched in 1973 in nine reserves throughout the states of Assam, Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and West Bengal.
National Tiger Conservation Authority: The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) were established as statutory agencies after the amendments in the Wildlife (Protection) Act in 2006 on the report of the Tiger Task Force.
Bilateral Cooperation: India has been actively collaborating with neighbouring countries to enhance transboundary conservation efforts like India-Bangladesh to promote tiger conservation across the Sundarbans landscape. India and Cambodia signed a MoU focused on “Cooperation in biodiversity conservation and sustainable wildlife management recovery strategy of tiger and its habitat,” according to the Ministry of External Affairs website.
Conservation Assured Tiger Standards (CA|TS) Accreditation: It is an international accreditation system that assesses management techniques in tiger reserves to make sure they adhere to strict conservation guidelines.
International Big Cats Alliance (IBCA): It was launched by the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, in 2023 to promote the protection of seven big cats: the tiger, leopard, snow leopard, lion, cheetah, puma and jaguar during a program honouring 50 years of Project Tiger. The alliance seeks to establish contact with a spectrum of countries that surround these large cats’ native habitats. The IBCA aims to increase international collaboration and conservation efforts for these untamed inhabitants.
One will find three to forty animals in the prides of lion. These big cats can hunt prey and protect their area as a group in pride. The majority of hunting and cub rearing activities are done by the females. Most sociable when compared to other big cat species, they are found in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, a tiny population of Asiatic lions in India’s Gir National Park, and a severely endangered subpopulation in West Africa. Because of their remarkable adaptability, lions can live in a broad range of environments, such as semi-arid desert regions, dense shrubbery, dry forests, and floodplains. They usually like open savannas since it is simpler for them to stalk their prey there.
August 10 is World Lion Day — an annual event started by Big Cat Rescue, the largest accredited big cat sanctuary in the world. It was instituted to raise awareness of the rapidly diminishing lion population and the critical need for their conservation. Despite the fact that lions awe us with their power and beauty, poaching, habitat degradation, and conflict with other wildlife have all contributed to the decline in the lion population.
Conservation efforts
Project Lion: It was announced on August 15, 2020, ‘Project Lion’ is a pivotal initiative aimed at securing the future of Asiatic lions through comprehensive, long-term conservation efforts. The project focuses on creating and maintaining a sustainable environment where lions can survive. The key components of the project include improving habitat, and monitoring through radio collars and camera traps, while also addressing human-wildlife conflict.
Advanced Technologies in Lion Conservation: These technologies play a significant role in the conservation, protection, and development efforts of the Greater Gir Region. The use of advanced ICT includes GPS-Based Tracking, Automated Sensor Grid, Night Vision Capabilities, GIS-Based Real-Time Monitoring and Safety Enhancements.
Greater Gir Concept: The concept involves developing additional habitats for lions beyond Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary. There are various other wildlife sanctuaries suitable for lions like Girnar, Pania, and Mitiyala.
World Wildlife Fund: WWF supported the barricading of 180 wells with local partners and the Gujarat Forest Department which led to an increase in the subsidy by the Government of Gujarat.
There are nine species of leopards, which are found in both Asia and Africa. As one moves throughout this enormous geographic region, each of them changes in appearance and biology. However, they all have the same highly gorgeous black-spotted coat, excellent stealth, and elusive character, according to World Wildlife India.
The leopard, the smallest of the big cats, is well known for its ability to adapt to a variety of settings. This species is a nocturnal mammal, they can hunt at night. It eats smaller herbivorous animals found in its vicinity, such as hog deer, chital, and wild boar.
These big cats are extremely agile mammals, they spend much of their time sleeping atop trees. It barely ever takes naps and very seldom moves around. Its meal has been seen to be carried up onto trees.
The leopard is not among the species for whom a “species-specific conservation program” has been defined because there is no evidence that the species is at risk of going extinct in the country.
Leopard in India
The “Status of Leopards in India, 2022” report states that there were 13784 leopards in India in 2022 compared to 12,852 in 2018.
According to the report, Central India and Eastern Ghats have the highest population of leopards (8,820), followed by the Western Ghats (3,596), and the Shivalik Hills and Gangetic Plains (1,109).
The maximum population of leopards is found in Madhya Pradesh (3907) followed by Maharashtra (1985), and Karnataka (1879).
Studies on the status of leopards in protected areas and how they use wildlife corridors are being carried out by WWF-India. The World Wildlife Fund offers assistance to bolster anti-poaching endeavours within protected regions, thereby mitigating the poaching of leopards.
Snow Leopards, also known as “Ghost of the Mountains” can climb steep hills easily while their rear legs help them to leap over six times of their own length of the body. They have a long tail which helps them in balancing their body. These snow leopards are not detected easily as they can blend themselves with their surroundings.
The mountainous regions of twelve Asian countries—Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan—make up the habitat range of the snow leopard.
Snow leopard in India
A survey taken by the Snow Leopard Population Assessment in India (SPAI) has estimated a population of 718 Snow Leopards in Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Most of the habitat of the Snow Leopard is not accessible by roads.
The reference point is provided by the head and tail of a snow leopard. Earlier, the researchers have tried to position cameras in a way to capture the forehead region of snow leopards. The same process was followed in Ladakh during the present SPAI exercise.
| Big Cats | IUCN Status | Schedule (WPA, 1972) |
|---|---|---|
| Tiger | Endangered | Schedule 1 |
| Cheetah | Asian – Critically endangered
African – Vulnerable |
Schedule 1
Schedule 1 |
| Leopard | Vulnerable | Schedule 1 |
| Lion | Vulnerable | Schedule 1 |
| Snow Leopard | Vulnerable | Schedule 1 |
(Source: IUCN, Wildlife Protection Act, 1972)
Cheetahs can walk with a long stride because of their long, slender limbs, solid foot pads, and flexible spine. They have a body specially designed to enable them to achieve peak speeds. It can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 3 seconds, making it the only cat without retractable claws.
They are well-known for their tawny coats speckled with black dots, which are placed in a distinctive pattern to aid in animal identification.
They have quirky eyesight which helps them to find prey in the daytime. Their prey includes small- to medium-size animals, such as hares, gazelles, calves, and impalas. The species prefer grasslands found in Asia and Africa.
Cheetah in India
According to the National Tiger Conservation Authority, In 1952, the cheetah bid farewell to India, succumbing to a culmination of threats. They are gradually decreasing in number and prey base due to reasons which include large-scale captures for coursing, bounties, and sports hunting, coupled with habitat fragmentation and destruction. The 20th century saw a severe decline in the number of Cheetahs intensified by inappropriate conservation efforts in Indian reserves.
Earlier in 2022, the Government of India decided to introduce the Cheetah, the only large carnivore species that went extinct in Independent India. The re-introduction of the African Cheetahs was done to Kuno National Park and later Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary was made second home for Cheetahs. Both the Kuno National Park and Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary are situated in Madhya Pradesh. The landscape of these sanctuaries looks like Maasai Mara, a reserve known for its savanna wilderness in Africa.
Black panthers are “melanistic” members of the Panthera genus rather than being a separate species. Panthera also includes lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, and snow leopards. Melanism is defined as the occurrence of individuals that are darker in pigmentation. There can be two reasons behind it: polymorphisms within species or consistent variation between closely related species. This melanism provides superior camouflage only in the densest and darkest forests. This melanism provides superior camouflage only in the densest and darkest forests.
These big cats are not native to India and are mainly found in the region of South America.
Jaguars (Panthera Onca)
Jaguars are distinguished swimmers, they are the largest cat in South America. In order to hunt for the prey, they climb up the trees to kill their prey with a single, vicious bite.
Jaguars are dependent on the prey found in rivers including fish, turtles, and alligator-like creatures. They are also dependent on large species such as deer, tapirs, and capybaras.
The population of Jaguars have decreased by half over the last century due to deforestation and agricultural practices. It has led to decline in the numbers despite multiple conservation efforts.
For instance, WWF has been tracking the populations of the Jaguars in the Napo-Putumayo Corridor, a forest spanning through Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
Puma (Puma concolor)
Puma, sometimes referred to as a mountain lion, cougar, or panther, is the biggest of the “small cats.”
They can be found in woods, prairies, wetlands, and deserts, among other types of environments. These mountain lions prefer to live in isolation which does not mean that they do not communicate with each other.
Mountain lions have huge, sharp claws on their paws and a muscular build. They can jump long distances because their back legs are stronger and bigger than their front ones.
Habitat and Gestation Period of Big Cats |
||
|---|---|---|
| Big Cats | Habitat | Gestation Period (Days) |
| Tiger | Temperate, tropical and evergreen forests, mangrove and grasslands | 95-110 |
| Cheetah | Shrublands, grasslands, savannas and temperate to hot deserts | 90-95 |
| Leopard | Forests, subtropical and tropical regions, Savannas, deserts and rocky and mountainous regions | 90-105 |
| Lion | Open plains, dry thorn forests and grasslands | 100-110 |
| Snow Leopard | Northern and central Asia mountains. | 90-105 |
(Sources: ntca.gov.in, http://www.worldwildlife.org, iucn.org, nationalgeographic.com)
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