Elmwood's Jaguar Cubs Officially Named

NORRISTOWN, PA -- The results are in, and the Elmwood Park Zoo's jaguar cubs have themselves new names. The male cub will be named Diego, while the female will be called Luna, the zoo announced Monday morning.

The three-month-old cubs were named after weeks-long public voting contest which saw thousands of submissions. Diego won out of over other choices like Pablo, Fuego, and Cielo, the zoo said. Luna, meanwhile, beat Maya, Zara, and Frieda.

The pair of cubs were born in January to the zoo's resident jaguar, Inka. Their birth came as a surprise as Inka had only spent a very short amount of time with the father.

Diego and Luna will be available for the public to see at the zoo's new Trail of the Jaguar facility beginning on May 5. The exhibit will be open for a member's preview on Thursday, April 27.

In order to cast the vote, the public donated $1 per naming suggestion, ultimately raising $1,341 for the Northern Jaguar Project, a conservation organization. Jaguars are considered "near threatened" on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

According to Elmwood, Diego and Luna are the first jaguars born in an American zoo in 2017.

Images via Elmwood Park Zoo