France, Feb. 26 -- Continuing New Delhi's efforts to reestablish the variety of the feline population, a group of 12 cheetahs was brought from South Africa last week and put into quarantine enclosures in the Kuno National Park in the central state of Madhya Pradesh.

The big cats arrived after a 10-hour flight from Johannesburg. They will join eight brought from Namibia last year. The South African cheetahs are between 18 months and four years of age.

"All of them are calm and have taken a full meal," Yadvendradev Jhala of the Wildlife Institute of India told RFI.

The intercontinental movement of the creatures, first from Namibia and now from South Africa, is part of India's ambitious restoration initiative called 'Project Cheetah'.

Th...