Keepers at a Devon wildlife park claim to have recorded a rare breeding success with the first caracal cub to be born in captivity for a decade.
The youngster, just a week old and yet to open its eyes, has been delighting visitors at Exmoor Zoo as it nuzzles and suckles its mother.
The cats, which are sometimes known as the desert lynx, though not related to lynx, have been enjoying temperatures more common on the Serengeti than their adopted home, near Bratton Fleming.
Father Yoda – named after the famously wise and pointy-eared Jedi knight in the film Star Wars – has been separated from the mother, who is known, slightly less imaginatively, as Mrs Caracal.
Curator Danny Reynolds said the new arrival had been "special".
"It is really nice – she is out there in the long grass just like she would be in the wild and showing all the right maternal instincts," he added.
"As far as we can tell this is the first cub to be bred in captivity in this country for about ten years.
"We don't know the cub's sex yet – we will find out when it gets its first jab in around six weeks – and it is still very reliant on mother."
Both parents were captive-born animals from Europe and are now 18 months old.
The species is common in Africa and Asia and placed in the "least concern" category of threatened animals.
