On the night of Wednesday, October 16, a jaguar cub (Panthera onca) was born in ARTIS-Park.
The last birth of jaguar cubs in ARTIS was in 2017. Both the cub and the mother are doing well. The 14-year-old jaguar had been visiting her indoor enclosure a lot in the previous days and the zookeepers were able to keep an eye on it via camera images. The birth was late in the evening and the mother immediately took care of her young by licking it clean. The cub stays close to the mother because it can barely stand on its legs and its eyes are still closed.
Here you can watch the jaguar cub live.
The birth of this healthy cub is of great value to the European species conservation programme. Producing new cubs is essential to keep the jaguar population stable. The jaguar is currently classified as ‘sensitive’ on the IUCN Red List, and numbers in the wild continue to decline worryingly.
Johan Lof, animal caretaker: ‘We are very happy with our new ARTIS resident, whom we have not yet had the opportunity to meet ourselves, because mother is keeping the cub to herself for a while.’