Our Jaguars are Grandparents!

We are excited to announce that our resident jaguars, Kamau and Kadira, have become grandparents. Their daughter Kira, who was born here at Paradise since 2017, has given birth to a beautiful rare black jaguar cub down at our sister park, the Big Cat Sanctuary, and we are incredibly proud to have three generations of jaguars between our two wildlife parks. Upon moving to the Big Cat Sanctuary in 2019, Kira was partnered with the stunning black jaguar, Neron, who has become a real member's favourite at the Big Cat Sanctuary due to his remarkable colouration and his stunning markings, which he gets from his melanistic traits through his genetics. The love that Kira and Neron have for each other has been clear from day one, as they are constantly showing affection towards each other, grooming each other, and just generally loving life with each other in their habitat down at the Big Cat Sanctuary, and you can really see that just through the online images and videos that we've been able to capture of them as well. The team at the Big Cat Sanctuary could tell just through the way that Kira had started to behave towards the end of March, that there was the potential for a baby to be born, and sure enough, on the 6th of April, Kira did indeed give birth to the stunning black jaguar cub, and from day one, it's been clear that we have a feisty yet adorable little girl on our hands. We can confirm it is a girl, it's absolutely wonderful news. For the time being, we're calling her baby, but we will give her an actual name in due course, that's for sure. But the melanistic trait, which is obviously such a stunning coloration, only affects around 10% of jaguars, so it is a real rarity to have a black jaguar cub. For now, Kira and her cub will stay in the indoor dens until the cub receives its inoculations and is ready to embrace the outside world. In the meantime, Kamau and Kadira are also down at the Big Cat Sanctuary, so they have all three generations of our jaguar family down there, because, and hopefully you can see a little bit behind me, a sneak peek anyway, our new jaguar habitat is currently being rebuilt ahead of Kamau and Kadira's return. Jaguars are one of the most iconic animals that we house between both of the parks, and they are a near-threatened species. This is sadly because the Amazon rainforest is under severe threat due to deforestation and poaching as well. So the fact that good zoos and international breeding programs exist to help with regards to education, breeding welfare, and also scientific research, ensure that jaguars do have hope for the future. And the fact that we're a part of that international breeding program is something that we are incredibly proud of. To see more of the beautiful black cub, then please head over to the Big Cat Sanctuary's social media pages, where our team have provided some fantastic videos and photos of her. And of course, get excited to welcome Kamau and Kadira the jaguars back to paradise later in this year when Jaguar Jungle is completed.