Happy New Year! We thought we would start 2015 off with one of the many inspiring conservation stories that has taken place at Fossil Rim. #TBT to 2006 when Fossil Rim witnessed an amazing tribute to motherhood from Cinnabar, a female cheetah who gave birth to her first litter of 3 female cubs. Meanwhile, at the Cincinnati Zoo a single cub was born to a mother a few days before Cinnabar’s litter. Because a cheetah will never raise just one cub, this Cincinnati cub was flown to Fossil Rim to be fostered by Cinnabar. Cinnabar accepted the cub, Frankie, and began grooming and nursing him along with her own litter. Cub fostering was not a common practice at this time and Cinnabar proved that she was up for the challenge. Several days later, Fossil Rim had another first-time mother give birth to two cubs. Due to inclement weather, one cub died and the other was abandoned. It was decided that this cub, Hooper, would also be put with Cinnabar and her litter to see if she would foster another cub. With almost two weeks of an age difference between the cubs, it was unclear if this gamble would work. After a few nervous moments by Cinnabar in which Hooper was moved out of the den box and into the grass, Cinnabar went back and picked up Hooper and returned him to the den with the other cubs. Cinnabar started to care for all five cubs and they are all still alive today. This was the first time that a cheetah raised her own litter and fostered two cubs from two separate litters. Cinnabar was a truly remarkable mother and her well-known story has opened the door to more fostering successes in the cheetah world.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 18:05:04 +0000