The End of a Trail : The Cheetah in India

Contents: Preface. 1. Spots and rosettes. 2. A search through antiquity: from prehistoric to classical records. 3. Cheetah in Sanskrit and Pre-Mughal records. 4. At the court of the great Mughals. 5. Towards extinction under British rule. 6. Into the republic and oblivion. 7. On trapping, training, treatment of and hunting with cheetahs. 8. Cheetahs from Africa in India. 9. Cheetahs of Africa and Asia. 10. Status of the cheetah in Asia. 11. Extinction and reintroduction: causes and prospects. Appendices: 1. Note on the terms cheetah and panther and the names used for animals and birds in the text. 2. Names of the cheetah (acinonyx jubatus) and leopard (Panthera pardus) in various languages in the Indian subcontinent. 3. Aberrant forms of the cheetah. 4. Some implements used for training cheetahs. 5. Details of cheetah skulls in India. 6. Chronology of extinction. 7. Hunting with caracal. Maps. Bibliography. Index.

"The cheetah is an enigma to people in India and it is often confused with the leopard. Few know the difference between the two animals and fewer still know anything of the life of the former.

"This work traces the cheetah from prehistoric times through history, to its ultimate extinction on the Indian subcontinent, in our own century. The author has painstakingly searched for the cheetah in Indus seals, coins of Indian kings and dynasties, Calssical Greek and Latin, Sanskrit, Persian, Urdu, Marathi and Hindi literature and lexicons, Indian paintings and photographs over a period of a decade to produce a history of the animal through the ages. The book also describes the highly developed art of trapping, training and hunting with cheetahs along with other related subjects such as the cheetah's status in Asia, a comparison with the cheetah from Africa, the causes of its extinction in India and the prospects of its reintroduction in its former homeland.

"While the book is indispensable for scientists and field managers involved with the study and conservation of the cheetah, it is written in an easy, informative style and is of equal interest to any person concerned about the conservation of nature. It is the only comprehensive work ever written on the cheetah in India." (jacket)