Wildcat birth captured on camera for first time at Cairngorms Wildlife Park

Footage of wildcats being born has been captured for the very first time.

The rare video was recorded at Saving Wildcats conservation breeding for release centre based at Highland Wildlife Park in the Cairngorms.

Mum Skye gave birth to two healthy kittens in 2026, bringing the breeding centre’s total number of newborn kittens this year to seven.

The births also mark the fifth consecutive year of successful breeding at the release centre.

The project is led by Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, who hope the footage will provide valuable information into wildcat behaviours, and help improve the care and management of any future litters.

Saving Wildcats team leader Estelle Morgan said “Having a birth captured on camera is an incredible resource for wildcat conservation.

“For the first time we can closely study the behaviour of a wildcat during labour and immediately after birth.

“Every new piece of knowledge helps us better understand how to support our breeding programme and strengthens our efforts to recover this Critically Endangered species.”

For the next six to eight months the kittens will live alongside their parents to learn necessary lifeskills.

They will then be transferred to specially designed pre-release enclosures to further prepare them for the challenges of life in the wild.

Estelle Morgan added: “A decade ago, births like these would have been hard to imagine.

“Now, we have kittens that may one day go on to raise families of their own in the wild, while this remarkable footage is helping us learn more about how to support future generations.”

The kittens are expected to be eligible for release into the wild in 2027, joining the growing reintroduced population in the Cairngorms National Park.