India’s Cheetah Population Reaches 53 as Jwala Delivers Five Cubs at Kuno National Park

Exam-focused facts from the 11 March 2026 current affairs briefing.

Key facts

A Namibian cheetah named Jwala delivered five cubs at Kuno National Park (KNP) on 9 March 2026.
The birth of the five cubs has increased India’s total cheetah population to 53, crossing the 50-mark for the first time since the reintroduction began.
This is the third litter delivered by Jwala, who was translocated from Namibia to India in 2022 as part of Project Cheetah.
With this new litter, the total number of cheetah cubs born on Indian soil has risen to 33 across ten successful litters recorded since the translocation programme started.
Project Cheetah aims to re-establish the species in India after it was officially declared extinct in the country in 1952.
The KNP landscape provides a suitable habitat for the cheetahs with prey species including chital and chinkara.