The map layer India cheetah extinction depicts the chronological locations of sighting or other records of the Indian Cheetah as reported in Divyabhanusinh Chavda's book 'End of a Trail'. In this book Divyabhanusinh Chavda looks back into prehistory and studies interactions between humans and the cat through the years, and shows what conditions and practices led to its extinction in the subcontinent. He concludes with a discussion of a possible reintroduction of the cheetah into India. This is one of the important resources for knowing the historical spatial distribution of Cheetah Therefore, this map will help to understand the occurrence and abundance of the species as documented in this book.
This book presents a pictorial history of the cheetah in India from the pre-historic period to the present. It provides a comprehensive account of the cheetah in captivity and its use by Indian royalty as an aid to hunting. Divyabhanusinh examines anew the process of the Indian cheetah's decline in the nineteenth and twentieth century, charting its path to extinction and analyzing the causes of its disappearance. The epilogue provides a complete update, including detailed findings on the evolution of cheetahs from Africa and Asia. It also gives fresh evidence about the sadly declining numbers of cheetahs in Iran, and their existence in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The author mines a wide range of sources - from prehistoric cave paintings, Sanskrit, classical Greek and Roman literature to Mughal miniature paintings, rare photographs, and interviews. This third edition contains an updated preface on the current scenario for cheetahs in Asia.
The Asiatic Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) was quite a common species in the 20th century and it wandered across dry grasslands of Iran, Afghanistan and India. The Asiatic Cheetah is a rare critically endangered subspecies and has gone extinct in India since 1952. These species have faced extensive hunting, habitat loss and Inter-breeding elsewhere in its entire former range in Southwest Asia from Arabia to India including Afghanistan. At Present, Cheetah is only found in Iran, with some occasional sightings in Balochistan province of Pakistan. At present reintroduction of cheetah in Indian grasslands is being worked out for restoring the natural heritage and conserving the grasslands in India.
The report from Moef (India) on Cheetah reintroduction:
http://moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/ProjectCheetahBrochure.pdf
‘Cheetah extinction’ – report by Karl S. Kruszelnicki:
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/1999/08/02/40791.htm
Wikipedia information on Asiatic Cheetah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asiatic_Cheetah
Cheetah reintroduction plans in Indian books
http://iberianature.com/wildworld/cheetah-reintroduction-plan-in-india/