Unlikely Alliance: India-Born and Botswana Cheetahs Form Rare Coalition at Kuno

Two male cheetahs at Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park have formed an unusual partnership, with wildlife officials describing the pairing of animals born on different continents as a rare occurrence.

The cheetahs, KNG23 and CCB4, are unrelated and differ in age by roughly six to seven months. KNG23 was born in India in March to a cheetah named Nirva, while CCB4 arrived from Botswana on February 28 this year.

"This is a very rare phenomenon," said Uttam Kumar Sharma, director of Kuno National Park. "What is particularly interesting is that these are two unrelated male cheetahs, with an age difference of around six to seven months, and yet they have accepted each other and formed a coalition."

Male cheetahs commonly form coalitions, but these are usually made up of siblings. The bond between KNG23 and CCB4 emerged from circumstances rather than any deliberate attempt to pair them.

Around March, KNG23, then about 16 months old, was separated from its mother and siblings after an injury that required isolation. CCB4 had arrived from Botswana without its sisters. The two young males were kept on opposite sides of a fence and showed continued interest in each other.

KNG23 was later released into the wild with its mother, brother and sister on May 30, and the family stayed together for several weeks. By late July, KNG23 was injured again, and by then its sisters had dispersed on their own. The two males again found themselves near each other, and the field team removed the fence between them.

Their first encounter was over food. Officials said the animals shared a kill without aggression, and neither tried to drive the other away. The team did not immediately treat that as evidence of a coalition, since sharing a meal alone was not enough.

The relationship then deepened. KNG23 began following CCB4 and sitting nearby. The two called to each other when out of sight, moved and hunted together, and shared kills. They were also seen grooming each other and, on at least one occasion, supporting each other when a rival coalition challenged them.

"These were no longer simply two cheetahs tolerating each other. They were beginning to behave like a team. A coalition was taking shape," a wildlife official said.

For Sharma, the case illustrates the flexibility of cheetah social behaviour. Male cheetahs do form coalitions, he said, but they generally become less accepting of unrelated males as they grow older. Coalitions formed at a very young age can endure, but staying together becomes harder as the animals mature.

The real test will come as the two confront the pressures of life in the wild, including competing males and access to territory, food and eventually females. Sharma noted that the pair have not yet encountered a leopard or another major predator, and are currently in a large enclosure rather than the wild.

Kuno already has other male coalitions. These include a five-male group of three older and two younger cheetahs, the two male cubs born to Jwala, and two of Asha's three male cubs, while the third has separated.

Sharma said coalitions offer clear advantages: males can protect each other better, hunting becomes easier with two animals, and a pair can confront rivals more effectively than a lone cheetah.

The pairing comes amid a broader transition at Kuno, four years after the first cheetahs were brought from Africa. The project's focus has shifted from the survival of individual imported animals to India-born cheetahs growing up, dispersing and beginning to establish territories.

Sharma described the effort as progressing step by step: the first year focused on introducing the cheetahs and ensuring their survival, the second on births and cub survival, the third on cubs growing up and being released into the wild, and the fourth on the animals gradually establishing themselves.

Officials said the current project population stands at 52, with 49 at Kuno and three at Gandhi Sagar, including 32 born in India. Seventeen of Kuno's 49 are living in the wild, with the rest in soft-release enclosures.

Sharma said the male coalitions, including those of Asha's and Jwala's males, are beginning to establish territories, occupying particular areas and moving within them. Females, meanwhile, are moving across one another's territories.

"Slowly, we are beginning to see the natural ecology of the cheetah emerging," he said.

Looking ahead, he said the main objective would be for mating to take place in the wild, for cubs to be born there and for those cubs to survive without the protections that accompanied the cheetahs' arrival.