India is planning to reintroduce the leopard into its territory

The leopard, which went extinct in India sixty years ago, now wants to make a comeback

There are currently only 7,000 leopards in the world.

A group of leopards is expected to make the long journey from Africa to a new home in a sprawling national park in India next week, the BBC reports. The world’s fastest land animal is about to return to this country It has been extinct in this part of the world for over half a century.

This is the first time a large carnivore has been introduced from one continent to another and back into the wild.. “It’s exciting, it’s challenging. It’s a great feather in India’s cap to recover a lost treasure,” says Yathvendradev Jhala, dean of the Wildlife Institute of India and one of the experts behind the initiative.

At least 16 leopards will arrive in India from South Africa and Namibia, home to more than a third of the world’s 7,000 leopards. More than half of the world’s leopard population is found in these two countries and Botswana. This project is very interesting because if it goes well it will increase its population and diversity.