See Animals Wild

Kuno national park in India has been chosen to reintroduce cheetah to India. This is (to be clear) good news. Cheetah were an important part of the Indian fauna, but were driven to extinction by human hunters.

So what is the problem?

Well quite simple. The area is thought to be able to support 20 cheetah based on the area. However, unfortunately at the moment, Chital density is roughly 20 per square kilometre. While this sounds very healthy, in actual fact, the park hosted an average of 60 Chital per square km in just 2014.

This means that for what-ever reason, the Chital population are heavily depressed. This population needs to be able to rebound if it is to support 20 cheetah.

At the current time, this expert suggests that the reserve cannot support more than 15.

These cheetah are due to be released from their large enclosures into the greater Kuno in the next few weeks. Annoyingly, a tiger has been seen in the area (the reserve is not perfect habitat for a tiger, so there is no permanent tiger population) so some delay will occur to allow this animal to move on.

At the moment, in most areas, male lions can be hunted from the age of 6. Unfortunately as the age of the lion is regularly over-estimated, this means that lions as young as 4 are often shot.

A recent proposal is to increase the age to 8. This would mean that young lions are not shot regularly, and will give lions a chance to reproduce before the end of their lives. With male lions naturally living to 12-16 years, this change would be a positive one.

The alps are essentially the centre of western Europe, while the Carpathians are the centre of eastern europe.

Beaver reintroduction projects are occurring all over the UK. Given that back in October 2022 the beaver was recognized as a native species once again in England, it becomes far easier to reintroduce them into places that would benefit from their presence.

You might ask why a country would declare an animal non-native after it being pushed to extinction by humans? I share this bafflement. In the UK (as with many countries across the globe) once the species has officially been declared locally extinct it ceases to be a native mammal. This should change – it is absurd that in a country where a native species is driven to extinction, there needs to be any discussion about whether it is native – indeed I would argue that this is simply done to make it politically easier to argue against reintroduction.

Anyway, the return of beavers to London will occur in Ealing’s Paradise Fields, an eight-hectare site of woodland and wetlands minutes from Greenford Tube station. While the whole site will be closed while the beavers settle in, it will then continue to be a green space for locals to enjoy.

The beavers behaviour is expected to manage water more effectively, and thereby greatly reduce or indeed eliminate the risk of flooding in the local area.