It’s a long way from the Serengeti but Fota Wildlife Park’s two new cheetah cubs are sure to feel at home after the Cork public gave them Swahili names.
In a public vote, the two cubs, born in November, were named Nia, meaning “purpose” in Swahili, and Nuru, meaning “light”.
Over 1,000 people responded to Fota’s invitation to suggest possible names.
Nia and Nuru, female and male cubs respectively, are both Northern Cheetahs born to first-time mother Florence (5), who was born in Fota, and father Nawab (6) who came from Wadi Al Safa Wildlife Centre in Dubai as part of a European Endangered Breeding Programme.
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Acting lead ranger John Leahy said: “We were thrilled with the level of engagement from the public in helping us name these cubs. Nia and Nuru are beautiful names with powerful meanings. The names were selected to honour the cheetahs’ African heritage.”
Fota has been to the fore in the conservation of cheetahs with over 240 animals born at the park since it first opened in 1983. It had its first success a year later when Maeve from Namibia gave birth to five cubs after mating with father Daithi from Dublin Zoo.
Northern cheetahs are classified as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature with an estimated global population of around 600 as they face threat from habitat fragmentation, human-wildlife conflict and illegal wildlife trade.
Leahy said the new arrivals are thriving under the attentive care of their mother in the cheetah habitat near the park’s main entrance and are proving hugely popular with visitors.
“We hope to soon introduce the cubs to our world-famous ‘cheetah run’ here in Fota, a high-speed enrichment designed to simulate natural hunting behaviour by encouraging the animals to chase food as they would in nature.”
