The National Zoo is the proud home of four new cheetah cubs.
A five-year-old cheetah named Echo gave birth at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia, on Wednesday morning. The zoo has been closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, but the cubs were featured on a livestream.
?? Kick back, relax and check in on our newest arrivals on the Cheetah Cub #Webcam! Mom Echo gave birth to 4 cubs yesterday. So far, they have spent their day nursing, taking cat naps and just being adorable. ❤️ TUNE IN: https://t.co/NO7t0hdwBi. | #NatZooZen #CheetahCubdates pic.twitter.com/EcZ3viGSlW
— National Zoo (@NationalZoo) April 9, 2020
Steve Monfort, the director of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, celebrated the new cubs saying, “It’s thrilling and humbling to witness something as special as an animal birth.”
“I’m eager to watch the newborn cubs in their early days. During this extremely tumultuous and isolating time, we want the new cheetah cam and all our live animal webcams to provide much needed moments of relief and inspiration from our natural world,” he added.
The cubs were bred as part of the Cheetah Breeding Center Coalition, a group of 10 breeders who aim to conserve wildlife and maintain the cheetah population in North America. The group has overseen the birth of 14 litters. Adrienne Crosier, a cheetah reproductive biologist, noted that they believe the cheetah cubs will be able to be raised without human intervention.
“This was Echo’s first pregnancy, but we’re confident in her maternal instincts and abilities,” Crosier explained. “She was raised by her own mother without human intervention, so there’s a good chance Echo has learned cheetah parenting behaviors from the best teacher — her mother.”
