Fota Wildlife Park has announced the birth of four Northern cheetah cubs.
The two male and two female cubs were born on November 12th to mother Nimpy and father Claude.
The six-week-old cubs do not have names and the Cork visitor attraction is calling on the public to help name the cubs and be in with a chance to win a year-long conservation membership for each name chosen.
Entry forms can be found online here
Although mother Nimpy is keeping her cubs safely and securely in the den where they were born, they are starting to become active and can be viewed in the camera screen at their habitat.
Northern cheetah cubs at Fota Wildlife Park in Cork | Image: Fota Wildlife Park
Kelly Lambe, lead ranger, said: "We are delighted to welcome four new cheetah cubs to Fota Wildlife Park as the Northern Cheetah is considered vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
"Cheetahs face many threats to their population including the conversion of their natural habitat, grasslands, to agricultural zones, conflict with humans and competition for food with other large predators such as lions, leopards and hyenas."
Northern cheetah cubs at Fota Wildlife Park in Cork | Image: Fota Wildlife Park
"The cheetah is the most recognisable species here at Fota as not only does it form part of our logo but the studbook for the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) for the Northern cheetah is run by the Park's director - Sean McKeown."
To date, over 200 cheetahs have been born there since 1985 and many have formed part of cooperative breeding programmes in wildlife parks and zoos across Europe.
Mother Nimpy and father Claude both came from La Palmyre Zoo in France to Fota Wildlife Park in 2012.
The Cheetah as a species has been in existence for between 3.5 and four million years - making it the oldest of Earth's big cats.
