Cheetahs that give birth to just one cub, called a singleton, cannot produce enough milk to keep the cub alive. To help stimulate milk production and avoid this situation from happening, zoologists at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute decided to make one mother responsible for both cubs, in an act known as “cross-fostering.”
Many years of research are celebrated in the birth of two cheetah cubs at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute—the first cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) born at the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park facility in Front Royal, Va. The cubs were born to two separate females; the first to 5-year-old Amani Dec. 6, the second to 9-year-old Zazi Dec. 16
