Species in News (Biodiversity).
Syllabus: UPSC Pre GS1: Environmental Ecology, Biodiversity & Climate Change; Mains GS3
On 5 October 2026 KJP21, a 32-month-old Indian-born female cheetah, gave birth to five cubs at Kuno National Park. India now has 60 cheetahs, 41 of them born in India. KJP21 is the third Indian-born female to breed, and the father is from Botswana, starting a Botswanan lineage in India.
UPSC angle: Prelims: Kuno, cheetah facts. · Mains GS-III: species reintroduction.
5 Oct 2026
On 4 October 2026 two captive-bred male Great Indian Bustards were released into the wild at Sam in Desert National Park, Jaisalmer. The breeding centres at Sam and Ramdevra hold 97 birds, 57 of them bred in captivity. The release marks a shift in the decade-old recovery programme from breeding birds to putting them back in the wild.
UPSC angle: Prelims: GIB status, Desert NP. · Mains GS-III: species conservation.
4 Oct 2026
On 2 October 2026 tigress T138, translocated from Valmiki Tiger Reserve in Bihar, was released in Buxa Tiger Reserve, West Bengal. It begins a phased Tiger Reintroduction Programme to rebuild a self-sustaining tiger population in Buxa, after years of prey build-up, grassland restoration and community work under a project supported by NTCA and WII.
UPSC angle: Prelims: tiger reserve–State matching. · Mains: Reintroduction vs natural recovery.
2 Oct 2026
On World Lion Day, 10 August 2026, the Environment Minister said the Asiatic lion population rose from 523 in 2015 to 891 in 2025. Project Lion, announced on 15 August 2020, has seen the lion range grow from about 30,000 sq km in 2020 to nearly 35,000 sq km. Gir in Gujarat is the only home of wild Asiatic lions.
UPSC angle: Prelims: lion facts.
10 Aug 2026
Scientists from MACS Agharkar Research Institute, Pune (DST) reported five new species of Allographa lichens from the Western Ghats. Allographa is a script-lichen genus in Graphidaceae with more than 200 species. The work is the first comprehensive molecular phylogeny of Allographa from the Western Ghats.
UPSC angle: Prelims: lichens as bioindicators.
21 Jul 2026
Project Great Indian Bustard added three chicks in mid-June 2026, taking captive stock to 94 birds, the Environment Ministry said on 14 June. In the fourth year of captive breeding, 26 chicks have hatched so far — 18 by artificial insemination, four by natural breeding and four from wild-collected eggs.
UPSC angle: Prelims: GIB status and habitat.
14 Jun 2026