It was time for our 1 year old cheetah cubs to get their annual cat flu injections. While they were distracted with food, Jacqueline Bisco a vet from Brazil who was volunteering with us injected them with the vaccine. The cubs did not realize what happened as they were too occupied with their meal.

**DID YOU KNOW? New-born cubs have very dark fur, with the spots almost blended together and barely visible. During the first few weeks a thick yellowish-grey coat, called a mantle, grows along the cub’s back. The dark colour helps to camouflage the cub by blending into the shadows, and causes it to resemble a honey badger; honey badgers are ferocious small predators, and so are usually left alone by other animals. The mantle is also thought to help regulate the cubs’ temperature against rain and the heat of the sun. The mantle starts to disappear at around three months old, but the last traces of it are still present at over two years of age. Cheetah cubs grow rapidly and have reached half their adult size at six months of age. By the time they are eight months old they have lost the last of their milk teeth, and they start trying to stalk and hunt, though these are usually clumsy and unsuccessful attempts.