Furry Cute-a-tude: San Diego Cheetah Sisters

The Safari Park cubs will soon mark their first month.

I CAN'T: Catchy phrases among young people come and go, from "out of sight" to "dynamite" to "for sure" and beyond. "I can't" has been a major part of the parlance over the last few years, and it basically signifies that the viewer or reader or onlooker cannot take the level of cuteness or awesomeness or beauty or joy that is being presented to them. A perfect example of the phrase, should you want to fold it into your own lexicon (extending the saying's shelf life for a bit longer), would be what you might utter upon encountering two cheetah cubs being fed by bottles. That is, in fact, prime "I can't" territory, because there probably isn't a human around who could handle that high, high level of furry sweetness. Squealing helps the I-can't-ness, as does a good amount of sighing. And plenty of squealing/sighing is going on 'round San Diego Safari Park these days, where two cheetah females were born on Monday, Sept. 1. They're already quite alert and responsive, say the keepers, and they've got an interesting and helpful path ahead of them.

ANIMAL AMBASSADORS: The sisters will become representatives for the park and "each will be paired with a domestic dog for companionship, as are all ambassador cheetahs at the Safari Park and San Diego Zoo." Domestic dog friends for the cheetahs? Yeah, "I can't" would work here, as this is the very definition of heart-tuggery. The cubs, who aren't even a month as of this typing, are already "swatting and interacting with each other" and boast a lot of personality. As for the scale-tipping? They're both about three pounds, which you can eye for yourself, as the cubly duo is on view each morning around 9 a.m. "for a few hours" (you'll want to head for Safari Park's Animal Care Center). Keepers are raising the pair, as mom Allie has not had great luck in raising previous litters. So the littermates? They're being hand-raised. Staffers report that the sisters are "great eaters," too, so if you want to spy the furry ones take to their food, try and grab a spot one morning, the better to admire animal babyhood at its fuzziest. Yep. I can't.

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