T H AT WA S T H E N
Life of a Baby Cheetah A short article in 1971 about the San Diego Zoo’s first cheetah birth highlighted the start of an important breeding program for this endangered cat species. TODAY AT THE ZOO San Diego Zoo Global has been breeding cheetahs for more than 40 years, with more than 150 cubs born. The San Diego Zoo Safari Park is one of nine breeding facilities in the cheetah Breeding Center Coalition (BCC). It is estimated that the worldwide population of cheetahs has been reduced from 100,000 in 1900 to just 10,000 left today, with about 10 percent now living under protection in zoos and wildlife parks.
28 / ZOONOOZ / JULY 2016
The first birth of cheetahs in the collection occurred on November 22, 1970 at 8 a.m....Unfortunately, two of the litter of three had been killed by other adults in the enclosure before the research team in charge of the project on the reproductive behavior of cheetahs could come to the rescue. The surviving cub was brought to the Children’s Zoo Nursery. The little male was given the name “Juba,” taken from the scientific name of the species, Acinonyx jubatus jubatus. He weighed 19 ounces at birth, 21½ ounces at ten days, and 32½ ounces when a month old....At one month, he takes six teaspoons of formula at each feeding....He is fed every three hours from 7 a.m. until midnight. Three times a day, he is offered small amounts of commercial cat food. He sleeps between feedings, and when he awakens, he utters birdlike calls, said to be associated with eating or being alarmed. As Juba seems to awaken promptly at feeding times, he may be calling for food.