I don’t know about all of you, but I could certainly use more pictures of disgustingly adorable baby animals in my life. After all, these are some trying times we’re living in nowadays, and I’m really in no place to be turning down anything that could put a big, stupid smile on my face.
Thankfully, Zoo Miami knows exactly what the people (and, specifically, people like me) want.
The South Florida zoo recently announced the birth of two highly endangered clouded leopard kittens by posting a series of photos online that are just so darn cute, the internet can’t help but collectively d’aww .
The male and female kittens were actually born on February 11 but have been kept secluded in a den with their mother, Serai.
As CBS Miami reported, this was in an effort to avoid exposing the lil’ cuties to any external stress, and to allow the proud new mother to bond with her kittens.
Now, after both offspring have been checked over and given their vaccines, they’re finally ready for their worldwide debut.
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The zoo officially introduced the currently-unnamed leopards on Twitter this week.
“Zoo Miami is excited to announce the successful births of the highly endangered clouded leopards,” the tweet reads.
“Amid all of the stressful news that we are all dealing with, I hope that this can bring a smile to some of your faces!” the zoo’s communications director, Ron Magill, wrote in a separate press release. “Hopefully, once this pandemic has run its course, the public will be able to return to the zoo to personally see these precious new additions!”
Clouded leopards are native to forests within Southern China, Taiwan and Malaysia, and are considered highly endangered.
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), these beautiful members of the cat family can weigh anywhere from 30-50 pounds and have dark grey fur with a black and grey blotched pattern.
The leopards are endangered due to hunting, as their attractive pelts actually have ceremonial value in many cultures.
