What has 20 legs, an abundance of spots and is incredibly cute? A litter of five cheetah cubs.

Monarto Zoo in South Australia has welcomed the birth of five cheetah cubs to first-time mum Kesho.

Carnivore keeper Michelle Lloyd said four-year-old Kesho was a doting mum and the cubs were doing very well under her attentive care.

"Everyone's thrilled to welcome the new arrivals to our cheetah coalition, it's really exciting to see Kesho as a first-time mum," she said.

"She is doing a fantastic job caring for her young and tending to their every need.

"For the time being, we're giving the family complete privacy and monitoring the cubs' development via a security camera in the den."

The zoo said with cheetahs classified as "vulnerable to extinction" in the wild, the litter was an important addition to its breeding program.

It said the cheetah, the world's fastest animal, is Africa's most endangered big cat with just 6,700 estimated to be remaining in the wild of eastern and south-western Africa.

"It's devastating to think that in the last 35 years, we've lost almost half of the wild cheetah population," Ms Lloyd said.

The cubs, whose sexes are still unknown, will live with their mum in a den that is off-limits to the public until they are old enough to make their debut.

Kesho was born in the last litter welcomed to Monarto Zoo in 2012.

Dad, Innis, arrived at Monarto Zoo in 2016 from Canberra and is on a breeding loan.