WASHINGTON — A cheetah mother at the Richmond Metro Zoo has given birth to a whopping seven cubs, the zoo announced.
The cubs were born Nov. 30. All seven are doing well and have had several checkups and their first set of shots, the zoo said. The zoo announced the births in a Jan. 24 YouTube video that shows the furballs toddling around the zoo’s cheetah enclosure.
Cheetahs are the most endangered wild cats in the wild, having declined to only about 7,000 individual cheetahs, the zoo said.
“This is a very special birth to us, because not only is it a big boost to the captive population but a cheetah having seven cubs only happens 1 percent of the time,” zookeeper Whitlee Turner said in the YouTube video announcing the cubs’ birth.
The zoo said it has undertaken “massive efforts” since 2013 in cheetah conservation, partnering with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the Zoological Association of America on preservation programs. In that time, 47 cubs in nine litters have been born at the zoo.
The mother cheetah, Vaila, previously gave birth to seven cubs in 2016, but two died shortly after birth. The father is Kalu, a first-time dad.
The cubs cannot yet be seen on exhibit, but the zoo said it would announce when they would be available. There’s also no word yet on names for the cubs yet.
