Project Cheetah. Eight cheetahs have been donated by Namibia that will be introduced to the Kuno National Park. The eight cheetahs were released into Kuno on September 17th, 2022 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Interaction with humans Taming The cheetah shows little aggression toward humans, and can be tamed easily, as it has been since antiquity. The earliest known depictions of the cheetah are from the Chauvet Cave in France, dating back to 32,000–26,000 BC. According to historians such as Heinz Friederichs and Burchard Brentjes, the cheetah was first tamed in Sumer and this gradually spread out to central and northern Africa, from where it reached India. The evidence for this is mainly pictorial; for instance, a Sumerian seal dating back to , featuring a long-legged leashed animal has fueled speculation that the cheetah was first tamed in Sumer. However, Thomas Allsen argues that the depicted animal might be a large dog. Other historians, such as Frederick Zeuner, have opined that ancient Egyptians were the first to tame the cheetah, from where it gradually spread into central Asia, Iran and India. In comparison, theories of the cheetah's taming in Egypt are stronger and include timelines proposed on this basis. Mafdet, one of the ancient Egyptian deities worshiped during the First Dynasty (3100–2900BC), was sometimes depicted as a cheetah. Ancient Egyptians believed the spirits of deceased pharaohs were taken away by cheetahs. Reliefs in the Deir el-Bahari temple complex tell of an expedition by Egyptians to the Land of Punt during the reign of Hatshepsut (1507–1458BC) that fetched, among other things, animals called "panthers". During the New Kingdom (16th to 11th centuries BC), cheetahs were common pets for royalty, who adorned them with ornate collars and leashes. The Egyptians would use their dogs to bring the concealed prey out in the open, after which a cheetah would be set upon it to kill it. Rock carvings depicting cheetahs dating back to 2000–6000 years ago have been found in Twyfelfontein; little else has been discovered in connection to the taming of cheetahs (or other cats) in southern Africa. Hunting cheetahs are known in pre-Islamic Arabic art from Yemen. Hunting with cheetahs became more prevalent toward the seventh centuryAD. In the Middle East, the cheetah would accompany the nobility to hunts in a special seat on the back of the saddle. Taming was an elaborate process and could take a year to complete.