Dublin Zoo and Fota Wildlife Park in Cork are purring with delight at their latest additions, which they proudly showed off today for the first time.
A female Asian lion cub was unveiled by Dublin Zoo, while at Fota two male cheetah cubs were introduced.
The adorable new lion cub was welcomed into the world by Mother Sita and father Kumar on June 25 and is the third born at the zoon since May 2014. She joins the pride of five Asian lions at the zoo, which includes sister Kyna and half-brother Kuno.
There are less than 350 Asian lions in the wild and they are native to the Gir Forest in India.
Dublin Zoo team leader Ciarán McMahon said the cub, who now weighs an estimated 5kg, is settling in well and has formed a close bond with her mother.
"We are thrilled with our new arrival," he said. "These lions are endangered in the wild and it is important for conservation that zoos maintain a viable population of Asian lions."
Over at Fota Wildlife Park in Cork, the good news continued and today it introduced two month old cheetah cubs for the first time.
The cubs, who were born at the end of July, become the 180th and 181st cheetahs to have been bred in the park since it first began rearing cheetahs in 1984. Cheetahs bred in Fota have been sent to many breeding centres around the world as part of the endangered species programme.
According to warden Kelly Lambe, the two llittle fellas have been thriving, saying "we have been watching these cubs as close as we can without interfering over the last few weeks and they have fed from mum all the time without any issues which is fantastic."
Both Dublin Zoo and Fota Wildlife Park are running competitions to name the new arrivals. Details are available on their websites.
