Watch four adorable Cheetah cubs nursing from their mum after being born at Yorkshire Wildlife Park

Brilliant footage shows four adorable Cheetah cubs being nurtured by their mum after being born at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster.

The four babies can be seen cuddling up to their mum, Darcy, just moments after being born at the wildlife park. Rangers said they were thrilled when the four-year-old Cheetah gave birth last week nine months after arriving in Doncaster.

Video footage showed how Darcy immediately began caring for the cubs when they emerged into a specially built box of straw.

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Doctor Charlotte Macdonald, Director of Animals at the park, said she was surprised to see the babies born so soon. She added: "We are incredibly excited at the arrival of the Cheetah cubs. It happened far sooner than we dared hope.

"In the wild, female Cheetahs are solitary so Brooke was introduced to her just for breeding purposes and Darcy is now alone with her cubs.

"It will be a while before the cubs come out in the reserve, but visitors can already see them on a screen at the park via cameras in their house."

Darcy had been put into a specially designed habitat which covers 10,000 square metres at the park with 14-year-old Brooke last August. This came after she traveled from Fota Wildlife Park in Ireland and Brooke had come from the Bristol Zoo Project.

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She soon began to show signs of being pregnant and gave birth on May 13. Doctor Macdonald added: "The landscape is enriched with lots of trees, rocks, sandy areas to relax, caves and lookout points.

"Cheetah have excellent sight and can see prey up to 3 miles away. Cheetah Territory houses Brooke and Darcy separately, as they would in the wild.

"The reserve has separate male and female savannah grassland inspired areas where they can run and roam and ‘homes’ where they can withdraw to rest and sleep."

Cheetahs are one of the oldest big cat species in the world, and were considered sacred by the Ancient Egyptians. They are considered vulnerable by the IUCN and around 7,100 are estimated to live in the wild, with them facing threats from habitat loss, poaching and polluting.

They were once one of the most widespread carnivores on the planet, but are now mostly found in Southern Africa. There are some smaller populations in East and North Africa and there are less than 30 in Iran.

Yorkshire Wildlife Park, along with the WildLive Foundation which is based at the park, are working to support cheetah conservation in the wild by raising awareness and supporting initiatives with their conservation partners.