Australia’s Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo NSW, provides a lifeline for endangered species.

[Elizabeth Adeldt, Zoo Friend]:
“Today we’re going to see the baby cheetah cubs, they were born 6 months ago and we are also going to see the baby giraffe.”

So do cheetahs have spots or stripes? Well it seems they can have either.

[Kristy Murray, Cheetah Keeper]:
“These are our most recent Cheetah cubs born here at Taronga Western Plains Zoo and what we’ve seen is that we have two normal spotted Cheetah born in the litter, and we have two King Cheetah cubs as well. And the King Cheetahs are a rare colour morph.  They have stripes down their back instead of spots.  So they are really special.”

Apparently it’s all in the genes. King Cheetahs are only produced when both parents hold the recessive gene. It’s estimated that only sixty King Cheetahs remain in the world today.

[Kristy Murray, Cheetah Keeper]:
“So the cubs had a great start to life.  They are still very wild and display lots of natural behavior, but they do come over when we call them and they come over for food and they move in an ... very well.”

Cheetahs are an endangered species. As their natural habitat is destroyed and turned into farm lands, cheetahs are shot to protect the cattle. So these cubs are important for breeding and maintaining the species.

 [Kristy Murray, Cheetah Keeper]:
“These guys are genetically different and genetically stable enough to be able to go back into the wild.”

And returning to the wild is probably the ultimate, for the cubs and maybe even for these young Giraffe who were born about the same time. But until that day comes, they will surely be soaking up the limelight that comes with living the zoo life.

Philippa Rayment, NTD News, Dubbo Australia