Since 2010, the world has been celebrating the cheetah each December 4th as International Cheetah Day. Background It is the birthday of Khayam, a cheetah Dr. Laurie Marker raised from a cub at Wildlife Safari in Oregon. Khayam was trained for the first research project in re-wilding and inspired her first trip to Namibia in 1977. Dr. Marker took Khayam to Africa to see if she could be taught to hunt in the wild. Through trial and error, Dr. Marker was successful in her efforts and she eventually brought Khayam back to the US. It was during this time that Dr. Marker learned that cheetahs were being exterminated by Namibian farmers who viewed them as vermin, and she vowed to do something about it. So Dr. Marker became the cheetah’s champion because of Khayam, and chose this animal’s birthday as a day to promote cheetah conservation in her honour. About Cheetahs The cheetah is the world’s fastest land animal. They can run 70 mph (or 110 kph), which is as fast as cars drive on the highway. The cheetah can reach its top speed in just 3 seconds! When cheetahs are running full speed, their stride (length between steps) is 6-7 meters (21 feet). Their feet only touch the ground twice during each stride. Cheetahs are carnivores, and feed mostly on smaller antelope like springbok, steenbok, Thomson’s gazelle, and duiker. They usually chase down their prey and then bite its throat, killing it by cutting off its air supply (suffocation). There are fewer than 7,500 cheetahs left in the wild, making the cheetah Africa’s most endangered big cat. A mother cheetah usually cares for anywhere from 2 to 8 cubs per litter, but cubs are often the target of other predators and many do not survive past the first year. One of the greatest threats to the cheetah in the wild is human-wildlife conflict. Over 90 percent of cheetahs live outside protected management areas, meaning that they live alongside human communities. Cheetahs have “tear marks” that run from the inside corners of their eyes down to the outside edges of their mouth. These marks help reflect the glare of the sun when they are hunting during the day. The cheetah has a long, muscular tail that has a flat shape. The tail almost functions like a rudder on a boat because they use it to help control their steering and keep their balance when running very fast. The cheetah’s fur is covered in solid black spots, and so is their skin! The black fur actually grows out of the black spots on their skin. Source : Cheetah Conservation Fund Project Cheetah in India The Government of India initiated efforts to introduce the Cheetah, the only large carnivore species that went extinct in Independent India. The cheetah was declared extinct from India in 1952. During September 2022, 8 Cheetahs were released in the Kuno National Park. Cheetahs - brought from Namibia - are being introduced in India under Project Cheetah, which is world's first inter-continental large wild carnivore translocation project. Out of the eight Cheetahs there are five female and three male Cheetahs. Bringing the Cheetah back to India has very vital and far reaching conservation consequences and aims to achieve the following ecological objectives: Re-establish the functional role of the Cheetah in representative ecosystems within its historical range. Here the cheetah will serve as a flagship to save not only its prey-base, but also other endangered species of the grassland and semi-arid ecosystems. Resources invested in these highly exploited and neglected systems will ensure better management and restore their ecosystem services for the country. Contribute to the global effort towards conservation of the Cheetah as a species. Additionally, Cheetah introduction is likely to improve and enhance the livelihood options and economies of the local communities.