The Assiniboine Park Zoo is showing off a young pair of Cheetah for the first time today.

Shomari and his mate Mandisa are on loan from a South African zoo. The captive-born pair of Cheetah are part of an international breeding program dedicated to maintaining a healthy captive population to augment declining populations in the wild.

This species has been declared critically endangered, with fewer than 10,000 surviving in Africa and only 200 in northern Iran. It's the first time Cheetah have been showcased in the Assiniboine Park Zoo's 102-year history.

Read more in tomorrow's Winnipeg Sun.