video transcript

Dubai the cheetah approaches her meal cautiously. She has seven cubs around twelve weeks old and it's her second set of offspring. Only three cheetah litters have ever been produced in UK zoos, and so Whipsnade Zoo's Marie Brown says this one's particularly valuable. SOUNDBITE: Marie Brown, Deputy Team Leader, Africa Section at Whipsnade Zoo, saying (English): "Northern cheetahs are extremely rare, rumoured to be less than 250 in the wild so we're very excited for her to breed for a second time. She's bred once before. She had five cubs with her first litter." The cubs have started eating solids, but will stay with their mom for about 18 months before being transferred to other European zoos to take part in breeding programs. SOUNDBITE: Marie Brown, Deputy Team Leader, Africa Section at Whipsnade Zoo, saying (English): "They'll feed off mum for quite a while but, yeah, they look like adults pretty much before we choose to remove them from mum which will probably be in about a year and a half's time." And until then, the septuplets can practice their sprinting.