So beautiful! Four Cheetah Cubs Make Their Debut at Henry Doorly Zoo (Video)
Get ready to hear cheetah squeaky content!
Omaha, Nebraska (December 6, 2022) – Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium proudly announces the birth of four cheetah cubs on November 4, 2022. The four cubs were born to mother Clio and father Refu in Lee G. Simmons Wildlife. Safari Park.
“These cubs are a great example of the benefits of zoo collaboration,” said Dr. Jason Herrick, vice president of Conservation and Animal Health at Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium in Omaha. “Not long ago, cheetahs were considered one of the most difficult species to breed in zoos. For the past two decades, members of the National Cheetah Breeding Center Coalition, including our Wildlife Safari Park, have worked together to really figure out how to breed cheetahs.”
Community members may not realize that there is a four-acre cheetah breeding facility off display at the Lee G. Simmons Wildlife Safari Park that allows the cheetahs to roam, gives them more privacy and looks like more to their natural habitat. Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium is one of nine Association of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited institutions participating in the National Coalition of Cheetah Breeding Centers.
“In addition to extensive off-exhibition facilities and dedicated care staff, the key ingredient appears to be choice,” Dr. Herrick said. “For most species, we set up a blind date with a high-stakes male and female and hope for the best. With cheetahs, large facilities allow us to keep multiple males and females, allowing them to choose their mate from several eligible bachelors or bachelorettes.” Dr. Herrick continued, “The result has been 29 cubs born at our Wildlife Safari Park since 2014 and a very healthy population of cheetahs in US zoos.”
Clio arrived in Omaha in April 2022 from the White Oak Conservation Center in Yulee, Florida and is 5 years old. Refu came from the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore in March 2019 and is 8 years old. This is the second set of four puppies that Refu has fathered. The new mother is attentive and the puppies are nursing. The mother and cubs have not been disturbed to facilitate the bonding process. The cubs are scheduled to have their first exam by the Zoo’s veterinary team on December 19.
Twenty cheetahs live at the Wildlife Safari Park, including 11 males, five females and four cubs (sexed).
Additionally, five females (four sisters and their mother) live in the Scott African Grasslands at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, while two males, part of the zoo’s Interactive Animal Program, live off-exhibit. Cheetahs are listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species and there are only between 12,000 and 15,000 cheetahs left in the wild.
