The cheetahs that landed in Kuno in 2022 still thought June was winter. Because in Namibia, it is. Shorter days. Cooler nights. A thicker coat growing in, exactly as their bodies had been doing for generations south of the Equator.
India does the opposite. June is heat and monsoon. Same months, inverted world.
So some of them grew a winter coat in the middle of an Indian summer. The fur held the rain. Ticks moved in. Collars rubbed wet skin. They scratched. Wounds opened. Maggots followed. Three adults didn’t make it.
Nobody had a textbook for this. Not the Namibian team. Nor the Indian scientists. The pineal gland only reads night length.
The ones who lived through a full year began to reset. The cubs born here never had the old clock at all. Thirty-two of them opened their eyes under northern daylight. Their coats, their breeding, their sense of when winter arrives - already Indian.
That is the quiet part of the 52. Not just numbers. A species that crossed the Equator, paid for the mismatch in skin and blood, and then handed a correctly timed body to its young.
Nature is stubborn. It is also faster than we give it credit for.
#ProjectCheetah #KunoNationalPark #CheetahsOfIndia #WildlifeIndia #Conservation
Dia has been so underwhelming, coming from Arc. Atlassian acquiring it doesn't sound like a great partnership. Hopefully new developments will come out in the future that will make my mind change. But right now, I think this was an exit strategy for the Arc / Dia creators.
@evilshantanu Agree. It’s not as if they are enthusiasts either. I guess maybe because they are the supreme commander of forces? But not sure why it’s a requirement.