Two 6-week-old cheetah cubs pounced, chased, wrestled and cuddled together at the Ione and Paul Harter Animal Care Center at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park earlier this morning (Friday, Jan. 11, 2019.)
The cheetah cub siblings—one female and one male—along with two other males, were born Nov. 29, 2018, to Malana, a cheetah at the Safari Park’s Cheetah Breeding Center. As Malana was unsuccessful in raising her previous litter, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Species Survival Plan (SSP) made the recommendation to have this litter of cubs raised as ambassadors for their species. Two of the cubs were to remain at the Safari Park and two would be sent to Wildlife Safari in Winston, Oregon, an AZA facility and a member of the cheetah Breeding Center Coalition (BCC).
Once at the Animal Care Center, the four cubs were found to have varying health issues. Veterinarians provided specialized care for each individual cub. While three cubs overcame their medical issues, despite excellent care, one of the male cubs did not survive. Of the remaining three cubs, one male was recently sent to Wildlife Safari as initially planned, and one male and female cub remain at the Safari Park.
“It’s a privilege for us to care for these cheetah cubs,” said Eileen Neff, senior keeper, San Diego Zoo Safari Park. “They are at the stage in life when everything is still “new” to them so they are extremely curious and playful. If you’re visiting the Safari Park, you’ll definitely want to stop by the nursery to catch a glimpse of these cheetah siblings.”
The little felines do not have names yet, but staff call them Pink (female) and Yellow (male) because of the colors of temporary ID markings put on their tails. Since their birth, the animal care team has been caring for them, bottle-feeding them a formula specifically designed for cheetahs, weighing them daily to monitor their health and simulating the grooming that they would normally receive from their mother. As the cubs have grown, the bottle feedings have become less frequent, and the cubs are primarily eating formula mixed with meat out of a bowl. Animal care staff say they will be completely weaned from their milk formula within the next few weeks.
Guests visiting the Safari Park this month can see the cheetahs in the Animal Care Center nursery at Nairobi Station between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
The San Diego Zoo Safari Park is one of nine breeding facilities participating in the cheetah Breeding Center Coalition (BCC). The goal of the coalition is to create a sustainable cheetah population to prevent extinction of the world’s fastest land animal. San Diego Zoo Global has been breeding cheetahs for more than 40 years, with more than 154 cubs born to date. It is estimated that the worldwide population of cheetahs has been reduced from 100,000 in 1900 to just 10,000 today, with about 10 percent now living in zoos or wildlife parks.
1. Did you know that baby cheetahs like to bond with puppies in their life.
2. Did you know that baby cheetahs can drink a baby botlle full of milk.
3.Do you know that baby cheetahs only eats meat when it’s first born.
Hello,
We are a 5th graders spanish class who are learning english in Madrid. We read your article in class.
We think the article is very interesting! The cubs are very cute!! We have some questions:
How much hours do they sleep? What kind of food do they eat? Is the fur softy? Do they change their names?What are the names of “the another siblings”?
Do they live in the nursery with other animals?
We appreciate a lot your work!! The world need people like you!!
Thanks for your all work!!
Hello,
We are 5AB from GSD Las Suertes, Madrid, Spain. We would like to know what the cheetahs eat now, how long you have been working with cheetahs at the zoo and why did you become zookeepers? We would love to visit your zoo one day!
Bye,
5AB
Blog Monitor’s note: The cheetah cubs have grown up enough to eat meat. They get a blend of ground meats and also get large bones to gnaw. Zookeepers choose their profession because they enjoy caring for animals (even the messy jobs) and want to help them have the best life. We hope you get to visit us someday!
Hello,
We are a class of 5th graders from Madrid, Spain. We loved reading about the cheetah cubs and watching them play. We would like to know a few things. How long can they live? Do they have contact with other animals? Are you going to have more cheetahs at the zoo? How much do they weigh? Who is the cheetah´s dad? Does he live at the zoo, too? We would really appreciate if you could answer our questions. Thank you so much!!
Love,
5CD
Blog Monitor’s note: They now live in a behind-the-scenes area where there are other animals (each in their own “bedroom”) such as a warthog, owls, and hawks. The cheetahs were born at our Cheetah Breeding Center, which is not open to the public, but I’m not sure which of the males there are the cubs’ father. You can find the answers to your other questions on our page about cheetahs at our Animals and Plants website.
Hello, we are 10 year old students from 5th grade from Madrid, Spain, We have just watched your website in our English class.
We really like your website, Its really interesting, We all love the cheetah cubs, Altough we are sorry about the cub who didn´t make it.
We would like to visit your park soon,
we really think that the efford you make to help animals is admirable.
The cheetah cubs are cute, soft and adorable.
Best wishes, bye
You have to raise them with 2 smooth coat Shiloh Shepherd pups. Best for mental development and a gentle temperament and they will be very easy to handle. Trust me on this.
My wife and I have had annual passes for the Safari Park and Zoo for several years. It is always a pleasant surprise to visit and see for ourselves the magic of the animals. We were not expecting to see the Cheetah cubs. Nor were we expecting to see the two baby elephants. That is one of the fun aspects about being able to just say, “hey let’s go to the Safari Park today”.