Plans to introduce African cheetahs to India have been scrapped.
India’s Supreme Court has just ruled that African cheetahs are too genetically different Asiatic cheetahs to be introduced.
From the BBC:
India’s Supreme Court has directed the government to suspend a move to reintroduce the cheetah, eradicated in India by hunting nearly a century ago.
The court’s decision came after some experts described the plan as “totally misconceived”.
Earlier, the government had approved wildlife groups’ recommendations of two sanctuaries, in Madhya Pradesh and an area in Rajasthan, as potential homes.
The plan was to import the cats from Africa, reports say.
A senior lawyer, PS Narasimha, told the court that the proposal to reintroduce the cheetah had not been discussed with the National Board for Wildlife, a statutory body for the enforcement of wildlife laws in India.
“Scientific studies show that the African cheetahs and Asian cheetahs are completely different, both genetically and also in their characteristics,” he said.
Mr Narasimha told the court that the reintroduction of the cheetah went against the guidelines on translocation of wildlife species laid down by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The Asiatic cheetah vanished from India many decades ago, pursued by trophy hunters and herdsmen to the brink of extinction during the Raj.
Conservationists say fewer than 100 of the critically endangered subspecies remain in Iran, roaming the central deserts.
The vast majority of the 10,000 cheetahs left in the world are in Africa.
Critics of the reintroduction scheme in India say that without restoring habitat and prey-bases, and also reducing the chances of man-animal conflict, viable cheetah populations will not flourish.
I agree with the argument that prey must be restored in order to maintain cheetahs and reduce human conflicts.
I do not agree that there is a lot of genetic difference between Asiatic and African cheetah.
There is very little genetic variation in cheetahs at all.
The best genetic evidence shows that Asiatic and African cheetahs aren’t even subspecies.
Stephen O’Brien of Laboratory of Genomic Diversity at the National Cancer Institute contends that the genetic evidence shows that African and Asiatic cheetahs separated only 5,000 years ago. A 100,000 years of evolution separates the African and Asiatic subspecies of lion, and 169,000 years separates the African and Asian subspecies of leopard. O’Brien, you may recall, was the researcher who lead the study that figured out that there were two species of clouded leopard. He also one of the leading authorities in conservation genetics and using DNA to resolve taxonomic disputes.
But the Indian Supreme Court was not convinced by this genetic evidence.
If cheetahs are to be reintroduced, they must be of the Asiatic “subspecies.”
The problem with that is they are in Iran.
And there are only about 100 of them.
Iran might be persuaded to send some to India, but it would not be prudent.
The proposed Indian cheetah population would need a relatively large number of founders, and taking founders from that very small population would be very harmful to the long-term survival of cheetahs in Iran.
This ruling shows us that these debates about taxonomy are not trivial.
Science may accept nuance and muddling between what we call a species or a subspecies.
The law very often doesn’t.
I’d love to see what the language of India’s version of the ESA states.
The language may be worded in such a way that reintroductions cannot vary much from the original population.
This might make some sense, if you know India’s history with reintroductions.
In the late 70’s, an Indian conservationist named Billy Arjan Singh, who had become famous for rehabilitating leopards and releasing them into the wild, tried his luck with a tigress named Tara. Tara had been born at the Twycross Zoo in India, and Singh raised her to maturity and successfully introduced her into the wilds of Dudhwa National Park.
She was said to have been a Bengal tiger, but like many captive tigers, her pedigree was not known. Amur and Bengal tigers are the main source for captive tigers, and they have often been historically crossbred at menageries and circuses.
Tigers with distinct Amur (“Siberian”) tiger characteristics were discovered. Their DNA was most similar to Amur tigers.
In India’s parliament there was a great outcry against these cats, and Tara was blamed for introducing Amur tiger genes into this population.
It’s very likely that India’s conservation laws are now so strict to prevent another “pollution” of genes from another “subspecies” that they never will allow cheetahs to return to the country.
It’s really a shame.
But it shows that debates over taxonomy are not meaningless hairsplitting.
The have very real consequences for conservation.
Kind of like ranchers who are complaining the American government is not doing enough to protect the Rocky Mountains wolves from the genetic pollution of Canadian wolves from the north.
People should start thinking in term of filling in niches, not absolute purity these days.
I got sent this: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2010.04986.x/full
I still don’t think that’s a big enough variance to deny them introduction.
If the Iranian population were healthy enough, go for it.
But it’s not, so go with the best substitute.
The other thing they need to look at are blackbuck populations. That’s what Indian cheetahs lived off of.
might be worthwhile to do a cross breeding project with some captured Iranian cheetahs (male) and African cheetahs (female) (sex selection being because one would only have to have a few males to do this) and then back crossing to get high percentage Asiatic cheetahs. Of course, this is the same purity nonsense that prevents hybrid tigers or lions being “rewilded” in areas where the originals are extinct. Clearly some purists would rather the entire species be exinct than that some sub species be “mongrelized”.
Obviously haphazard crossings are not especially desireable, but one could really wish that sometimes, some people in these conflicts would recognize that a middle ground is the answer.
The Asian Cheetah probably has it’s best chance for survival if some person(s) set up an “Indian” safari park in the US (assuming the anti exotics crowd doesn’t make it illegal and therefore impossible).
I share Dave’s simplistic view too
Do you think the Indian govt might change their mind?
Probably not.
I was informed of the evidence they used to make the decision. The two populations are divergent enough to be considered subspecies in a very recent study that used both nuclear DNA and mtDNA.
If Iranian cheetahs become extinct and blackbuck numbers increase, then they might introduce African cheetahs or at least consider it again.
I think the biggest problem is the law and also international treaties (I think they are) about conservation. The geneticists and conservationists could probably work things out but there’s never any provision for revisiting and re-examining laws. So that, if you decide (correctly) that two populations are subspecies then you can’t substitute them because, by law, we only conserve species, not sub-species.
Well, sometimes you have to get the subspecies right, but if you don’t have the proper subspecies, then the next closest thing is what you have to use.
Take the heath hen, for example. The heath hen was an Eastern subspecies of the greater prairie chicken. It went went extinct on Martha’s Vineyard in the 1932.
http://retrieverman.wordpress.com/2009/08/15/sometimes-you-have-to-have-the-right-subspecies/
They tried to restock the heath hen using greater prairie chickens from the plains, and they just weren’t adapted to the very humid climate in the East and soon died.
Sometimes you have to have the right subspecies.
Pity this tiny cheetah population in a region which has been politically sensitive for so long. It would be surprising to me if scientific or any other western involved group were to be allowed access at the moment – unless I am wrong about that?
There are Iranian scientists studying the species (Google ‘farhadinia’), and both Iranian (http://www.wildlife.ir/) and international (http://www.panthera.org/programs/cheetah/iranian-cheetah-project) organizations working for its conservation.
Thank you for alerting me to that new study and the validity of the Asiatic cheetah subspecies.
Idiots! The only reason cheetahs are extinct in India is because other humans came in and hunted them. Don’t humans owe it to them to step in and instead make things better. Also India needs cheetahs to keep the blackbucks (India’s fastest grazer) in check. I don’t care if the cheetahs are from Africa. They’re not the weakest animals out there which means they can adapt. I’d rather have African cheetahs in Asia than not have any cheetahs in Asia altogether. Face it, their population is getting smaller and not to mention their genetic structure. This reintroduction could be our last chance to save the cheetah before it’s too late.
Blackbuck are currently an endangered species.
There are many species that live around the world that could be used to replace the “extinct” species / populations. Placing African cheetahs in Asia is roughly equivalent to placing the African cheetah / lion / elephant etc in europe and north america. They could probably fill the niche as their cousins filled, but the people who would have to live with these animals in europe / north america would certainly not be happier than the African peasantry is when their livelihoods destroyed, asian people would probably react in the same way, wouldent you think? The human population has exploded and there is no room for a good megafauna longer outside the zoo and small parks. Pretty damn sad, but unfortunately it looks like the following, “everyone wants to preserve the Earth’s fauna, but not near me.”
Trying to replace our extinct cheetahs with modern cheetahs won’t work.
If there is a genetic difference between Asian and African cheetahs, there is a huge genetic difference between North American cheetahs, which were more closely related to cougars, and any cheetahs living today.
BTW, as crazy as what you’re suggesting sounds, there are people who want to bring lions and elephants over here and do just that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleistocene_Rewilding#List_of_species_proposed_for_the_Pleistocene_Rewilding_project
Well of course, the North American and Old World cheetah is the result of convergent evolution. But that means that you have the advantage when taking in African cheetahs to North America, you would not happen to hybridization whit a remnant population of an American species (ye i know there isent any), which you could be doing with the Asiatic cheetah. The African cheetah can be filling the same niche as the North American and that is a big part of the reintroduction idea. However, what makes me skeptical about the whole idea of ”re-introduce” species is that they do not neceserily will fill the same niche as the past species, even species closely related can have different behaviors and produce different effects on their enviroments. But is there someplace that you really must work with the reintroduction of species, it is in europe and north america this is where we can afford such hobbies.
It’s more like parallel evolution than convergence. Cheetahs and the cougar genus (Puma), which includes the cougar and the jaguarundi, all share a common ancestor 6 to 7 million years ago. Cheetahs could be included in the genus Puma. When you have similar adaptations evolving from two descendants of a common ancestor, it’s parallel evolution. Of course, it’s a minor quibble, because if you go back far enough, you find common ancestry between any organism. There is no good cut off date for when you have parallel or convergent evolution.
I strongly agree to this! India should have cheetahs.
That doesn’t close my main point that we need to save the cheetah.
I don’t disagree :)
Well i’m sorry if you don’t agree but I stand by my statement. I’m just someone trying to save one their favorite animals from extinction. I respect your opinion but I still side with what I said. You can say what you will but i’m not going to give up on the cheetah.
I do agree with you. They could do well with African cheetahs there.
Oh, sorry. I must have not read the comment correctly. Everyone makes mistakes.
You agreeing helps me feel satisfied that more will join us to help save these beautiful creatures.
Cheetahs, tigers, …Ever think zoos and wildlife managers place too much value on tiny little genes? Red wolves could benefit from a little Algonquin wolf blood (or even coyote). Northern white rhinos could use a boost from southern white rhinos, the list goes on. We could save these animals if we lose the kennel club attitude! (whaddyathink?)
I wonder, sometimes, if illogical pursuit of ‘purity’ is reflected here. A place like India for example, where many decades after the caste system was made illegal it still flourishes so that those deemed to be of ‘lower caste’ can still be discriminated against and even enslaved. So is it just concidence that India is the setting for this cheetah mixing resistance?
Racism, tribalism, religeon, politics whatever excuse is handy to perceive differences, are factors still behind a majority of intercommunity strife. I have to admit though that speaking different languages creates the most understandable barrier. Look at what happening in the Ukraine this very week. However, any kind of difference will do it seems, even, most pathetically, amongs crowds of football supporters.
There are also, however, growing examples of happy integration, particularly in western cities, which give the lie to racist attitudes and provide some hope for the future.