News Archive

There is a brand new band of brothers at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. A coalition of two male cheetahs made their debut at the Cheetah Conservation Station yesterday, Dec. 21.

A new study from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute is helping to make headway in an area of animal management that has historically proven challenging: the breeding of cheetahs under human care.

Get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how keepers at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute enrich the lives of animals by presenting them with toys, training and novel food items.

First come cubs, then comes species recovery. Find out how a thriving population in human care benefits wild cheetahs.

The public is invited to help name five of the 10 cheetah cubs born in late March at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) in Front Royal, Virginia.

Sometimes, even top predators need a leg up in order to survive. The recent boom in Kenya’s human population prompted people to sprawl and build their homes on the savannah. As a result, increased competition among wildlife for territory, food, water and mates can spell trouble for many the animals.

The start of spring brought a cheetah cub boom to the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) in Front Royal, Virginia, where two large litters were born over the course of a single week.

At the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI), our cheetah breeding program has been very successful since its beginnings eight years ago. The cheetah breeding facility is nine acres and it’s nestled away in a quiet area of SCBI. Cheetahs in particular breed more successfully in quiet...