RICHMOND, Va. — In a rare birth, a cheetah at a Virginia zoo gave birth to seven cubs!
The Metro Richmond Zoo announced on Facebook that the septuplets were born on November 30, 2018, to second-time mother, Vaila.
This is a very special birth because a cheetah giving birth to a litter of seven cubs only happens one percent of the time.
The zoo said all of the cubs have had several check-ups and their first set of shots. The little ones are growing fast, and are healthy.
Vaila and her cubs are currently in the zoo's cheetah breeding facility, not on exhibit. The zoo plans to move them into the zoo sometime in March.
The cheetah is Africa’s most endangered cat, and the wild population has drastically declined from 100,000 to only 7,000 individuals.
Since 2013, the Metro Richmond Zoo has launched massive efforts in cheetah conservation, and it has had 9 litters born with a total of 47 cubs.