NEW DELHI, Sept 18 : Eight cheetahs from Africa were brought to an Indian wildlife reserve on Saturday, in an attempt to bring the species back to India after it died out about 70 years ago.

A flight from Namibia carrying the animals landed at an air force base in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, early on Saturday, according to Indian news agency ANI.

From there, the big cats were flown by helicopter to a nearby national park where they were released into a quarantine enclosure by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It was also the prime minister's 72nd birthday.

The animals are to remain in the enclosure for monitoring for the immediate future.

The projects is the first attempt the introduce cheetahs from one continent to another, according to Yadvendradev Jhala, one of the project's staff.

India intends to continue importing cheetahs for the next few years, he said.

While the South African cheetahs are visually identical to the Asiatic cheetah, they do have slight genetic differences.

However, these distant cousins are India's best hope, as the Asiatic cheetah is now on the verge of extinction.

 - dpa