The National Zoo Reveals Its Cheetah Mom Gave Birth to 4 Cubs During Government Shutdown Closure

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo was closed to the public last month during the U.S. government’s longest shutdown in history — but that didn’t stop one mother cheetah from bringing some new additions into the zoo.

On Saturday, Nov. 15, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI) announced that its 5-year-old adult female cheetah named Amabala welcomed a litter of four cheetah cubs over the course of two days on Oct. 17 and 18.

The cubs’ father is Flash, an 8-year-old male who has three surviving cubs from a previous litter, though the zoo notes that male cheetahs do not play a role in raising their young. 

The cubs have set several special milestones, as the litter is the 20th litter born at the NZCBI’s Front Royal, Virginia campus, and it’s the fifth litter to be broadcast through the Cheetah Cub Cam — a live camera feed where guests can tune in to watch the cheetahs. According to the zoo, Amabala herself was born on the live feed.

According to Adrienne Crosier, a carnivore biologist at NZCBI who leads the cheetah Species Survival Plan (SSP), the birth of Amabala’s litter is particularly exciting because the species can be challenging to breed, due to the cheetahs’ difficult-to-interpret behavior and the females’ sporadic reproductive cycles.

“It’s taken our team of keepers, veterinary staff, and biologists thousands of man-hours to produce 20 litters. For that 20th litter to be Amabala’s is an exciting, full-circle moment for us,” Crosier added.

The National Zoo added that carnivore keepers and other staff are remaining “hands-off” when it comes to the care of the first-time mom and her cubs so that the cheetah family can bond.

“The cubs appear to be strong, active, vocal, and eating well,” the zoo stated.

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The zoo noted in its announcement that Amabala may move her cubs out of the den and around her habitat, so they may be out of view from the Cheetah Cub Cam.

NZCBI is part of the Cheetah Breeding Center Coalition, a group of 10 cheetah breeding centers across the country “that aim to create and maintain a sustainable North American cheetah population under human care through the Cheetah Species Survival Plan.”

The coalition collaborates with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ population management center to determine which animals are best suited for breeding based on their health, temperament, and other genetic factors — and 8-year-old male Flash is considered a “genetically valuable individual,” meaning his cubs could play a significant role in future breeding.

Cheetahs are primarily found in sub-Saharan Africa and live in small, isolated populations. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) considers the species vulnerable to extinction, as there are only about 7,000 to 7,500 cheetahs left in the wild, primarily due to human conflict, poaching, and habitat loss.