Five Cheetah Cubs at Prague Zoo

Cheetah cubs begin to walk clumsily and cautiously at just under one month of age. They are still fully dependent on their mother’s milk. Photo: Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo

The cheetah is among the most endangered felids, with only around 7,000 individuals remaining in the wild. Breeding under human care has also proved challenging in recent years: since 2020, the number of cheetahs in European zoos has declined by a quarter. Every successfully reared cub is therefore both an achievement and a source of hope. At Prague Zoo, cheetah cubs are being reared for the first time in eight years.

“The mother of the cubs continues to surprise us. She arrived from France several years ago in poor physical and mental condition, and at the time, I was convinced we would never see offspring from this female,” says Pavel Brandl, Curator of Mammals. Her condition has, however, improved significantly since spring 2023 thanks to the care she has received in Prague. “Last year she conceived for the first time but gave birth to a stillborn cub. Even so, it gave us hope that she is fertile and able to conceive. Now she has delivered five viable cubs and is behaving more maternally than we expected,” he adds.

The seven-year-old female chose an outdoor enclosure for the birth. While this makes the rearing more natural, it also brings greater risks—such as storms.

The cubs are now beginning to grow their incisors. Photo: Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo

Thanks to the mother’s attentiveness, all five cubs survived the heavy downpours at the turn of June and July. Soaking and subsequent pneumonia—along with predation—are common causes of mortality in cheetah cubs in the wild. It appears, however, that the mother dried her young by licking water from their fluffy coats with a characteristic dorsal mantle.

Prague Zoo will continue to provide updates on the cubs’ development and on opportunities to see or photograph them.

They are born blind but are now already observing their surroundings. Photo: Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo