India’s tiger count has crossed 3,600, one of conservation’s real success stories. Its cheetah population is a different kind of story — a species being rebuilt from zero, after going extinct in 1952. But India’s wildlife effort reaches far beyond these two big cats. It runs on a network of species-specific projects, a growing protected-area system, and one central law: the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
Timeline
1952: Cheetah Declared Extinct
- StoryIndia officially declares the cheetah extinct within its borders — the only large mammal lost in independent India.
2022: Project Cheetah Launches
- StoryOn 17 September 2022, Project Cheetah launches. Eight cheetahs from Namibia arrive at Kuno National Park.
2023: Tiger Count Released
- DataOn 29 July 2023, the 2022 All India Tiger Estimation is released, putting India’s tiger count at 3,682.
2026: Second Cheetah Generation
- DataBy May 2026, India’s cheetah population reaches 57, including a second wild-born generation.
Must Know
Tiger and Cheetah Numbers
- TigersIndia’s tiger population reached 3,682 in the 2022 All India Tiger Estimation, up from 2,967 in 2018 and 2,226 in 2014 — an annual growth rate of about 6.1%. India now holds roughly 75% of the world’s wild tiger population.
- CheetahsProject Cheetah launched on 17 September 2022, when 8 cheetahs from Namibia arrived at Kuno National Park. As of May 2026, India’s cheetah population has grown to 57, the largest live wild cheetah population outside Africa.
The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972
- Core LawThe Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 is India’s core wildlife law. It defines five protected-area categories: National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries, Conservation Reserves, Community Reserves, and Tiger Reserves.
- InstitutionsThe Act also created the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB).
Project Elephant and Project Lion
- ElephantsProject Elephant launched in February 1992. It now runs 33 Elephant Reserves across 14 states. A 2025 DNA-based census counted 22,446 wild elephants in India, over 60% of the world’s Asian elephant population.
- LionsProject Lion was announced by PM Modi on 15 August 2020. It protects the Asiatic lion, found in the wild only around Gir, Gujarat. The Greater Gir Landscape’s lion population reached 891 in 2025, up 32% from 674 in 2020.
Good to Know
Tiger and Cheetah Details
- State RankingsMadhya Pradesh has the most tigers (785), followed by Karnataka (563), Uttarakhand (560), and Maharashtra (444).
- Cheetah ArrivalsCheetahs arrived in two more batches after the first: 12 from South Africa in 2023, and 9 from Botswana in February 2026. Kuno recorded India’s first cheetah-born cub in March 2023, mother Jwala, from the original Namibian group.
- Cheetah LossesBetween September 2022 and December 2024, at least 9 adult cheetahs and 3 cubs died. Mortality dropped sharply after protocols were revised.
Protected Areas and Unusual National Parks
- Network ScaleIndia’s protected-area network, as of 2026, includes 107 National Parks, 573 Wildlife Sanctuaries, 58 Tiger Reserves, and 18 Biosphere Reserves. Similipal became the 107th National Park, in April 2025.
- Kaziranga’s RhinosKaziranga National Park, Assam, held 2,613 one-horned rhinoceroses in its 14th Rhino Population Census, up 200 from the previous count. Assam went 730 consecutive days without a poaching case, as of January 2026.
- Keibul LamjaoKeibul Lamjao National Park, in Manipur, is unique among India’s national parks. It is a swamp built on phumdi, floating mats of vegetation on Loktak Lake, supporting a rich biodiversity found nowhere else in this form.
- Biodiversity HotspotsIndia holds 4 of the world’s 36 recognised biodiversity hotspots: the Himalaya, Indo-Burma, the Western Ghats, and Sundaland (including the Nicobar Islands).
- A Second Lion HomeProject Lion is developing Barda Wildlife Sanctuary as a second lion habitat, giving Gir’s lions room to disperse naturally and reducing the risk from disease or disaster striking a single population.
✅ Test Yourself
Work through a 5-question chain covering the tiger count, Project Cheetah’s timeline, and a real UPSC question on big-cat behaviour, then keep practising with a random Environment and Ecology question.
Great to Know
Two Conservation Models
- StoryTigers and cheetahs represent opposite kinds of conservation work. Tiger numbers rest on decades of an existing, if fragile, population. Cheetahs are being rebuilt from zero, through active reintroduction.
- InsteadThe early cheetah deaths weren’t unusual for a reintroduction of this scale, which is why the Cheetah Action Plan was always framed as a multi-decade effort, not a quick fix.
- WhyKuno alone can’t sustainably hold more than 25-30 free-ranging adult cheetahs — the project depends on expanding to Gandhi Sagar and other sites, not just growing numbers in one park.
Big Cat Biology and Behaviour
- MechanismIndia runs separate species-specific projects — Tiger, Elephant, Lion, Cheetah — rather than one single wildlife programme, since each species needs a different kind of management.
- StoryLions have no fixed breeding season, unlike many other mammals. Cheetahs, unlike most other big cats, cannot roar at all — they chirp and purr instead, due to a different larynx structure. Male lions and male leopards both scent-mark their territory.
- LinkFor the legal framework behind both programmes, see EnvEco0003 — India’s Conservation Framework. For Project Tiger’s own institutional detail, see EnvEco0038 — Project Tiger and NTCA.
PYQ / Exam Angle
CSP 2024: Lion, Cheetah, Leopard Behaviour
- QuestionUPSC CSP 2024 tested three statements on lion, cheetah, and leopard breeding and behaviour — whether lions lack a fixed breeding season, whether cheetahs can’t roar, and whether male leopards don’t scent-mark territory.
- WhyAll three surprising-sounding claims turn out true except the leopard one: male leopards DO scent-mark territory, just like lions — it’s specifically cheetahs that break the big-cat pattern by not roaring.
- LinkSource: UPSC CSP 2024, GS Paper I (see Q25).
CSP 2015: The Only Floating National Park
- QuestionUPSC CSP 2015 asked which National Park is unique in being a swamp with floating vegetation supporting rich biodiversity. The answer is Keibul Lamjao National Park.
- WhyIts phumdi (floating mats of decayed vegetation on Loktak Lake, Manipur) support the last natural refuge of the Sangai deer, found nowhere else on Earth.
- LinkSource: UPSC CSP 2015, GS Paper I (see Q9).
Current Affairs
Clouded Leopard Conservation Action Plan (2026)
- PolicyOn 4 August 2026, International Clouded Leopard Day, the Environment Ministry launched a dedicated Clouded Leopard Conservation Action Plan (CAP), prepared under a Government of India-GEF-UNDP initiative and adopted at the 91st Standing Committee meeting of the NBWL, held in Coimbatore in July 2026. (Source: PIB)
- FirstThe CAP identifies 14 priority conservation landscapes across Northeast India, spanning Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, and Tripura, plus the northern fringes of West Bengal and Bihar. The species has been added to the Species Recovery Programme under the IDWH scheme. (Source: PIB)
- DataMonitoring under the plan combines camera traps, occupancy surveys, genetics, and environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling. Frontline staff will use the M-STrIPES smart app, the same tool already used for tiger monitoring. (Source: PIB)
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EnvEco0038 — Project Tiger and NTCAUPSC CSP 2026 — General Studies Paper I (Full Question Paper)EnvEco0003 — India's Conservation Framework: Forests, Laws and DebatesUPSC CSP 2019 — General Studies Paper I (Full Question Paper)UPSC CSP 2024 — General Studies Paper I (Full Question Paper)❓ Practice this topic
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