Feline hungry? Cheetah cubs’ first dinner is Halloween treat
Wednesday 20 October 2010
ZSL Whipsnade Zoo’s five cheetah cubs are getting a carnivores’ treat with a twist this week, as keepers serve up their first proper “meaty” dinner in carved pumpkins.
© ZSL - Christine Drabwell
Mother Dubai has been trying to tempt the cute fivesome with titbits from her own meals of chicken and raw meat but this will be the first time they all share a meal together.
Keepers came up with the idea, which is both healthy and a form of enrichment for the cubs, who will have to claw their way through the pumpkins to find their food.
The five cubs, born on 28 May are getting used to their surroundings and at 20 weeks old are becoming more adventurous but are still as adorable as the day they were born.
The cubs’ birth was a cause of great celebration at Whipsnade, which has a history of prolific breeding of these cats in the 1960s and 1970s and was the first zoo to successfully breed them.
The litter is part of a European Endangered Species Breeding Programme (EEP), as it is estimated that there are less than 250 individuals of this critically endangered subspecies of cheetah remaining in the wild.
