Cheetah Cubs begin their Adventures in their Outdoor Enclosure!

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After the recent success of breeding Colchester Zoo’s male cheetah, Jack and female, Uria, their three cheetah cubs which were born in July 2011 have been exploring life outside.

Now they are bigger and strong and healthy, the three cheetah cubs, Milawi, a male and Tatu and Savannah the two females have been allowed their first steps into the outside of the cheetah enclosure. At first all three cubs were very tentative, and stayed close with mum at the entrance of the enclosure. Two of the cubs then ventured out whilst closely following mum with one of the cubs shyly remaining within the entrance area.

Since the early days of their adventures outside they are now all beginning to become more confident and independent as they are beginning to leave Uria’s side and explore their new surroundings. The cubs are being let out into their enclosure regularly and can be seen down at the Edge of Africa section during the half-term.

Colchester Zoo are delighted to have experienced continued success with the breeding programme for this species and hope that Uria and Jack will continue to breed successfully in the future to help support the captive population of cheetahs.

Cheetahs are the fastest land mammals and catch their prey in high speed chases of up to 60 miles per hour. In the wild they are found in Africa and in small areas of the Middle East but their populations have decreased by as much as 30% in the last 18 years. Sadly, cheetahs are now critically endangered in Iran and North West Africa and are thought to be extinct in Libya. This makes European breeding programmes important for maintaining the population of captive cheetahs and for providing essential education and research.




EssexTouristGuide.com 19th October 2011

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