By Douglas Whitbread via SWNS
Heartwarming footage shows four adorable Cheetah cubs being nurtured by their mother after they were born at a British zoo.
The cute babies were seen snuggling up to adult big cat Darcy moments after they came bouncing into the world at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park.
Rangers at the estate, near Doncaster, South Yorks, were thrilled when the four-year-old predator gave birth last week – nine months after she had arrived at the site.
The video showed how she immediately started taking care of her new cubs when they emerged into a specially built box full of straw.
Director of Animals at the park, Doctor Charlotte Macdonald, said she was amazed that the babies had been born so soon.
She said: “We are incredibly excited at the arrival of the Cheetah cubs. It happened far sooner than we dared hope.
“In the wild, female Cheetahs are solitary so Brooke was introduced to her just for breeding purposes and Darcy is now alone with her cubs.
“It will be a while before the cubs come out in the reserve, but visitors can already see them on a screen at the park via cameras in their house.”
Darcy had been put together with 14-year-old male Brooke in a specially designed habitat that covers 10,000 square meters at Yorkshire Wildlife Park last August.
She had travelled from Ireland’s Fota Wildlife Park while Brooke had come from the Bristol Zoo Project.
Darcy later started showing signs of being pregnant and gave birth on May 13.
Doctor Macdonald said about the Cheetah’s habitat: ” The landscape is enriched with lots of trees, rocks, sandy areas to relax, caves and lookout points.
“Cheetah have excellent sight and can see prey up to 3 miles away. Cheetah Territory houses Brooke and Darcy separately, as they would in the wild.
“The reserve has separate male and female savannah grassland inspired areas where they can run and roam and ‘homes’ where they can withdraw to rest and sleep.”
Cheetahs are regarded as one of the oldest of the world’s big cat species and were considered sacred by the Egyptians.
Today, they are considered vulnerable by the IUCN with around 7,100 estimated to live in the wild.
Their numbers are under threat from habitat loss, poaching and pollution.
Cheetahs were once one of the most widespread carnivores on the planet but are now mainly confined to Southern Africa, with small numbers in East and North Africa and a population of less than 30 in Iran.
Yorkshire Wildlife Park and the WildLive Foundation, which is based at the park, will be supporting cheetah conservation in the wild raising awareness and supporting initiatives with conservation partners.
