Cincinnati Zoo Welcomes Serval Kittens

Jambo and Cleo join the extended animal family at the Cincinnati Zoo. (Photo courtesy of the Cincinnati Zoo)

Visitors to the Cincinnati Zoo will see two new additions in the Children’s Zoo Nursery for a limited time. Two 8-week-old serval kittens — brother “Jambo” and sister “Cleo” — will spend one month in the nursery before they begin training to enter the zoo’s Cheetah Encounter. The Cheetah Encounter is a new exhibit that will open June 1.

Servals traditionally live in the grasslands of Africa. They are the only cats that have both spots and stripes, which provide camouflage in the grass. Only the cheetah is faster than this small cat — the serval can run up to 30 miles per hour. Of the fourteen serval subspecies, one is listed in the IUNC's Red List as endangered, according to the Serval Conservation Organization.

For more information about the serval and other wildcats, click here.