Fota welcomes historic cheetah cub but he needs a name
Fota Wildlife Park has welcomed their first cheetah cub in five years and they are giving you a chance to name him.
The male cub was born on September 20 and amazingly is the 179th cheetah cub to be bred in Fota.
However, he's the first Northern cheetah to be born at the park and we think he's absolutely adorable as do the guys at Fota.
Director of Fota Wildlife Park, Sean McKeown said: "All of the staff at the park are delighted with the birth of our baby cheetah that has made exceptional progress since his birth. Female cheetahs in the wild do not rear a cub when there is a single cub in the litter, as happened in this case as the mother’s milk dried up because there is not enough milk with only one cub suckling."
Now the Wildlife Park is asking their patrons to help name the little guy through their social media channels.
So if you log onto the Fota Wildlife Park Facebook page or Twitter account and use the hashtag #FOTACHEETAHCUB you could be the one that gives the cub his name.
The winner will get to see the cub up close in the park’s ‘Wild Experiences’ attraction.
* The world's fastest land animal, the cheetah, is the most unique and specialized member of the cat family and can reach speeds of 70 mph.
* Cheetahs are endangered because of loss of habitat and prey to commercial farming and development, livestock killing and poaching. It has been estimated that in 1900, more than 100,000 cheetahs were found in at least 44 countries throughout Africa and Asia. Today the species is extinct from over 20 countries and less than 7,000 remain.
* Fota Wildlife Park first began breeding cheetahs in 1984, and is one of the world’s leading breeder’s of cheetahs. Fota-born cheetahs are sent to many breeding centres worldwide as part of international conservation programmes.
* Fota’s Cheetahs are fed chicken, rabbit or horsemeat. Rabbit tends to be their favourite, with richer horsemeat given out once a week.
Hat Tip: Fota Wildlife Park and Neil Danton Photography
