RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — The Metro Richmond Zoo is excited to announce the arrival of 13 new cheetah cubs. And yes, the live cheetah cam is up and running again!
According to our sister station in Richmond, 16 cubs were born between March 21 and April 2 to three different moms. Three of them did not survive.
Last Thursday, March 21, Milani, a second-time mom, gave birth to three cubs (two males and one female) sired by Hatari.
On April 1, Vaila, a first-time mom, gave birth to seven cubs sired by Hatari.
“Unfortunately, Vaila’s inexperience as a mom showed when she did not clean the birth sac surrounding one cub and it did not survive,” the zoo said in a release. “Also, one was born with a deformity and only lived a few hours. The remaining five are doing well.”
The following day, another first-time mom, Wiay, gave birth to six cubs sired by Kitu.
“Because of her inexperience, she accidentally laid on one of the cubs shortly after birth and it did not survive,” the release stated. “Initially, Wiay’s cubs did not gain weight and thrive as well as they should. Zoo staff weighed them every day, sometimes twice a day, and gave them medical attention as needed. The five are now all doing well with mom.”
The zoo released the following statement regarding the challenges of breeding cheetahs.
Cheetah’s are endangered and the wild cheetah population is in a drastic decline with only 7,500 now left in the wild in small pocketed areas in Africa. Breeding cheetahs in captivity is very challenging, with only a small portion of the population reproducing. The Metro Richmond Zoo has had tremendous success in breeding cheetahs.In the last 2 1/2 years we have had 36 cubs born from seven litters making a significant addition to the captive cheetah population. In addition to the number of cubs born, most of the adult cheetahs here are unrelated to the other Cheetahs in North America so the genetic value of these cubs for future breeding is extremely high.We are excited to make such a contribution towards Cheetah conservation here at the zoo.
