Fota Wildlife Park welcomes four adorable Northern cheetah cubs
Fota Wildlife Park has unveiled the newest arrivals at the Cork attraction: four adorable Northern cheetah cubs.
The two males and two females were born on November 12 to mother Nimpy and father Claude who both came from La Palmyre Zoo in France.
The park is calling on the public to help name the six-week-old cubs, with the winners each receiving a year-long conservation membership.
The cubs are considered vulnerable by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which means their population is at threat.
Kelly Lambe, Lead Ranger at Fota, said they were delighted to welcome the new cheetah cubs to the park.
"Cheetahs face many threats to their population including the conversion of their natural habitat, grasslands, to agricultural zones, conflict with humans and competition for food with other large predators such as lions, leopards and hyenas," she said.
“The cheetah is the most recognisable species here at Fota as not only does it form part of our logo but the studbook for the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) for the Northern cheetah is run by the Park’s director - Sean McKeown.
To date over 200 cheetahs have been born here since 1985 and many have formed part of cooperative breeding programmes in wildlife parks and zoos across Europe -ensuring the genetic diversity of the species.
"The involvement in the EEP helps ensure that the world’s fastest land animal does not become extinct and with so few Northern cheetahs existing in the wild, approximately 500, the birth of these cubs is very important for their population.”
The beautiful cubs can be seen at their habitat on Cheetah Hill in the park daily from 10am.
