Staff at Colchester Zoo paired up male cheetah Jack with female Uria thanks to software which helps find the best mate.

The programme checks animals’ genetic histories to find the best potential combination and now the happy couple have given birth to three healthy cubs. Sarah Forsyth, curator at Colchester Zoo, said: “This is the pairing’s first successful litter of cubs, and we hope that they will continue to breed successfully in the future to help support the captive population of this species.”

Born in July, the three cubs are all doing well under the watchful eye of their mother and keepers, and have now been sexed as two females and one male.

Their keepers have been keeping a close eye on the new arrivals with weighing sessions to ensure that the cubs continue to gain weight.

The cubs are unlikely to be seen over the rest of the summer as they will remain within the den while they grow up under the close care of Uria. (PA)

Piglets on dog milk

On a farm in Cuba, five little piglets are doggedly insisting on getting their milk from a stray canine rather than their own mother.

Farmer Mannorkys Santamaria is bewildered that his sow has plenty of milk but the puppies prefer Yeti, an adopted stray dog who earlier this week stopped nursing the last of her eight puppies.

The piglets turn to Yeti “whenever they have the opportunity” and “weep and groan” when the dog “becomes tired of the siege and leaves the house,” Mr Santamaria told Cuba’s National Information Agency.

Vet Sergio Rodriguez said adoptions like the one between Yeti and the piglets are rare in the animal world, but speculated that the piglets were attracted because the taste and temperature of all mammal milk is similar.

“Yeti reacts like someone who is receiving love,” said Mr Santamaria, adding that the dog had simply arrived at his farm unnoticed and never left. (AFP)

Exploding star

An exploding star that is growing brighter each day could soon be visible with binoculars, say astronomers.

But there is no danger of the earth being swept away by the cosmic concussion. The “nearby” supernova is 21 million light years away.

The stellar explosion is the closest of its type observed for 40 years.

It was spotted by astronomers from Oxford University and US colleagues in the Pinwheel Galaxy, a spiral galaxy in the constellation of the Great Bear. The supernova, dubbed PTF11kly, is getting brighter and could be visible with good binoculars in the next 10 days.

The discovery was made at 8 p.m. on Wednesday night using a robotic telescope based at Palomar in California. American space agency Nasa’s Hubble space telescope will now be used to study the supernova’s chemistry and physics. (PA)

Shoplifting couple

A couple of newlyweds are being held after they were caught shoplifting food from a supermarket for their wedding reception.

Arthur Phillips III, 33, and his bride, Brittany Lurch, 22, loaded their shopping trolley with goods worth more than $1,000 (€695.50) before leaving the Pennsylvania store without paying.

The pair told officers they were married a couple of days earlier and took the food for their wedding reception that afternoon.

They are charged with misdemeanour counts and are being held on $2,500 (€1,738) bail. (PA)

Squirrel suspects

Flags being taken from a police memorial have been squirrelled away, police in Ohio have discovered.

Two officers saw a squirrel snatch one of the small flags and run off with it. Later, police noticed a squirrel hanging from a tree branch outside a third-floor window at their headquarters building.

They also spotted a squirrel’s nest made of leaves and branches – and at least two of the little flags.

Officers say at least three flags have gone missing in recent days. (PA)

Reptile raider

An Arizona man stole several baby albino boa constrictors at a pet shop by stuffing them in his shorts, police said.

Eric Fiegel was arrested after police reviewed surveillance footage from Predator’s Reptile Centre in Mesa.

They said that, after the theft, Mr Fiegel went to ano-ther pet shop and traded several of the snakes for $175 (circa €121) and a large reptile tank. (PA)