New cheetah cubs make debut at Washington Zoo

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington's National Zoo proudly showed off its new, rare litter of endangered cheetah cubs on Friday, only the second in the zoo's 116-year history.

The 10-week-old cubs -- three females and two males -- bounded playfully around their 4-year-old mother, Zazi, and frolicked in grass of an outdoor enclosure as a bank of news cameras captured the public debut.

The young felines weigh only 9 pounds (4 kg), about the size of a house cat, and are still being nursed by their mother although they have begun to eat some meat.

The zoo, which prides itself on its breeding program, said the cubs were born on April 14 after being conceived naturally in January when Zazi mated with 6-year-old Ume, a first-time father.

"It's one of the most difficult cats we have to breed and there are 36 species of wild cats," said Dr. Jo Gayle Howard, a reproductive scientist at the zoo.

The National Zoo's first litter of cheetah cubs was born in November. Those cubs, now weighing 30 pounds (13.5 kg), turned seven months on Thursday and are still living with their mom, Tumai.

Cheetahs, the fastest animals on earth with a speed of up to 60 mph (95 kph), are now extinct in the wild except in Africa, where there are only some 12,000 to 15,000 left.

The cubs will stay with their mother as a family for at least a year. When they are fully grown and weigh about 100 pounds (45.5 kg), they may be sent to other zoos.

"We manage cheetahs in a program called the Species Survival Plan," Howard said. "Basically it's a computerized dating service. By looking at their pedigree and by looking at their genetics, we can tell which animals to pair with each other. So the SSP will tell us where these guys need to go."

The zoo, part of the Smithsonian Institution, now has 14 cheetahs.

"We are at full capacity right now but we have total confidence that we can breed cheetahs again," said Jack Grisham, Associate Curator at the zoo.

The cubs can be watched around the clock by live Web cams on http:/nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/AfricanSavanna/.  Zoo staff also use the cameras to keep an eye on the cats.

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Mother cheetah Zazi and her five cubs, born April 14, parade for the media at the National Zoo in Washington June 24, 2005. The new cheetah cubs, the second litter to be born at the zoo since November, will go on public display starting June 25. Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters