Five newborn cheetah cubs, live on camera, around the clock

Five tiny cheetahs are spending their first weeks exactly as they should — tucked against their mother, mostly asleep, entirely unbothered. The cubs were born on October 5 at the Smithsonian's National Zoo conservation facility in Front Royal, Virginia, the fourth generation of a bloodline born there. Because keepers deliberately keep their distance in the early weeks, the cubs are not on public display — so the zoo runs a two-den, 24-hour Cheetah Cub Cam, letting anyone watch the litter bond with their mother. Cheetahs are a vulnerable species, with fewer than 7,000 left in the wild, and the litter is part of a nationwide effort to sustain a healthy population. The cubs will likely stay on camera for six to seven months.