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The Metro Richmond Zoo is becoming a baby cheetah factory.

A 3-year-old first-time mother named Milani gave birth to five cubs, the zoo announced Sunday.

“They are adorable,” zoo owner Jim Andelin said.

The first cub was born Friday at 4:26 a.m., and the fifth was born at 11:34 a.m.

“It was a long delivery,” Andelin said.

The cubs and their mother appear to be doing well, he said.

Cheetahs are in decline in the wild, and births in captivity are not terribly common. But the private zoo in western Chesterfield County has pulled off the feat twice in less than a year.

Five cubs were born there Oct. 6. One died in May, apparently of a bacterial infection.

The cubs and their mother, Lana, became immensely popular through the Richmond Cheetah Cam, a project of the zoo and the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The online video camera was shut down a few days before the cubs made their in-the-flesh debut in April.

Andelin said he hopes to crank up the Cheetah Cam again for the new cubs, perhaps as early as midweek.