With Project Cheetah entering its second phase in India, Foresters at Kuno Cheetah Conservancy have a task at Hand. How to differentiate between the three male Cheetah and five females once they are released in the wild.  All three males are in the bigger enclosure already after completing the mandatory quarantine period and the females will be released in the bigger enclosure soon. While other big cats - Tigers and leopards can be identified based on their spots and stripe patterns how can one differentiate between two Cheetahs?

Cheetah Conservation Foundation (CCF) is helping foresters at Kuno to handle and translocated cats. All cheetahs have unique spot patterns and can be identified using a spot recognition program that picks up spot patterns, focusing on the face, side of the body and tail, from base to tip.

 

While the spots on a cheetah’s face and chest are relatively small and can be discerned only from close, the distinctive black stripes that run from its eyes to its mouth can be identified from afar. Known as malar stripes, they protect a cheetah’s eyes from the glare of the sun and help the animals focus on their prey over open forest terrain. They are also unique to every cheetah, giving each a slightly different facial expression. Clusters of spots near a cheetah’s limbs also provide a means of identifying the big cat. The solid black spots on a cheetah’s body are set against an undercoat that ranges from light tan to deep gold, unlike the rosettes on a leopard’s coat which are yellow spots surrounded by black circles. A cheetah’s combination of tawny fur and black spots camouflages it while stalking prey on open land. Cheetah tail markings are also distinctive. The tails end in bushy tufts encircled by five or six dark rings, followed by half-broken rings that appear in varying patterns on both sides. The tip of a cheetah’s tail varies in colour from white to black, and it is thought to be a signalling device, helping young cubs follow their mothers through tall grasses. Male cheetahs are larger than females and have bigger heads. By noting this and the patterns in three places on a cheetah’s body, MP forest guards will be able to identify the eight reintroduced cheetahs and their cubs. “With cheetah cubs, the spots appear on the limbs first, then on the tail, and finally on the body. Unlike hyena spots, they do not fade with time but become brighter and provide researchers with the ability to identify a cheetah as early as possible, just four weeks of age.