Two energetic Northern Cheetah cubs turned 2 months recently at Chester Zoo in England. The pair, born June 4, are a male and a female.
The zoo says that the two cubs are starting to develop their own personalities, as they climb tree stumps and bounce after one another. Team Manager of Carnivores, Dave Hall, said:
“They’re very, very playful and a real handful for mum. But she’s exceptionally good with them and doing a great job of bringing them up.”
Their mother and father, KT and Matrah, are both 6-year old Northern Cheetahs born in 2007. The pair is KT's second litter, her first being born in June 2011.
Northern Cheetahs are Endangered in their native Northwest African habitat, largely due to competition with larger predators, farmers, and habitat destruction.
The wild population has decreased sharply by 90% within the last 100 years, and many fear that there are as few as 250 individuals remaining. The
birth of the two cubs therefore is not only a success for the Chester Zoo, but also for the International Endangered Species Breeding Program.
The Chester Zoo is a champion for Cheetahs, combining research and support for local organizations in Africa. The Zoo supports the N/a’an ku sê Carnivore Research Project based in Namibia, where the dwindling Cheetah population is monitored and tagged. Chester Zoo also helped to develop a technique to identify Cheetahs in the wild
from their paw prints, which allows for a non-intrusive way of identifying and building a data bank of these wild cats.
Photo Credit Chester Zoo
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