In exciting news for conservationists and cat lovers alike, The Big Cat Sanctuary in Kent, England has welcomed a new rare black female jaguar cub. Born on April 6, the cub has a rare black coloration gene that only occurs in 10 percent of the wild jaguar population.
The cub was born to parents Keira and Neron and was already walking at just two weeks old. Now that the healthy cub is prancing around the sanctuary, the organization is now asking for the public’s help in naming the rare cat. They posted on Instagram asking followers to help choose a name for the cub. They have narrowed down the options to Killari, Inka, and Inti and in order to vote, you must make a £5 donation to the sanctuary. Until a name is chosen, the cub is simply going by “Baby.”
As you can see from the images of Baby, she is undeniably cute, but her birth also holds great significance for conservation efforts. Jaguars are classified as “near threatened” due to human impacts on habitat, and conservationists are focusing on maintaining genetic variation within captive populations to ensure a healthy future for these big cats.
