NORFOLK – The first cheetah exhibit in the Virginia Zoo’s 115-year history opened Friday, with 2-year-old littermates Chester and Rico making their debut after arriving last month.
The animals, each about 100 pounds, have been in quarantine since their arrival to confirm their health, the Virginia Zoo said in a release. The pair is on permanent loan from the Metro Richmond Zoo.
Chester and Rico’s new home, in the Africa-Okavango Delta area near the giraffes, was renovated to include high rocks and fallen trees because cheetahs like to perch and survey their surroundings, the release said.
To mark the arrival of the world’s fastest land animals, the zoo has cheetah-centric items in its giftshop and through May will offer $35 “zoodoptions,” symbolic adoptions that come with a certificate, fact sheet, cheetah photo and animal plush.
And if you visit, what might you hear?
“Cheetahs do not roar,” the zoo said in the release. “Instead they purr, chirp, hiss, whine and growl.”
