The four-month-old cheetah cubs are now out on their re-vamped exhibit, and keeping mum Kyan on her toes as they explore adn play in and around the new logs, rocks, plants and hiding spaces.

With just 7000 left in the wild, these cheetah – Bomani (meaning ‘warrior’), Radi (‘lighting’), Denzel (‘wild one who is gentle’), Asha (‘life’), Zola (‘quiet one’) and Adayzay (‘king’s daughter’) – are part of a global insurance population for their vulnerable species.

“The main thing that cheetah are facing at the moment is human-wildlife conflict,” keeper Jordan Michelmore said.

“They come into a lot of conflict with farmers because they’re a threat to livestock and the protected areas where they can live in are getting smaller and smaller.

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“We’re really proud of our breeding program with cheetah because they are a notoriously difficult animal to breed … the females are solitary so you can only put a male cheetah in with a female when she’s in oestrus and determining when that is can be very, very difficult.”

Kyan is doing her part.

“It’s quite unusual to have six cubs,” Jordan added. “The average for cheetah is between two and four.

“Now they’re getting older as well they’re doing a lot of play behaviours, a lot of stalking behaviours amongst themselves, a lot of playing with mum as well and she’s very patient with them.

“Having six of them is amazing to see them all playing together and all having a great time.”

The Cheetah Keeper Talk and Feed takes place at 11:35am daily.