WASHINGTON — See how they grow.

Four cheetah cubs born during the government shutdown were on a live display as the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute turned on the 'Cheetah Cub Cam' inside the animals' den in Front Royal, Va.

The live cameras, set up at two locations in the den, show 5-year-old cheetah Amabala and her four cubs. The babies spend most of their days nestled close to their mother, sleeping and nursing.

Amabala gave birth to the cubs on Oct. 17, about a week after updates from Smithsonian institutions closed their doors to the public. At the same time, online features, like live feeds of the pandas at the National Zoo in Washington, went offline.

But carnivore biologists, like Adrienne Crosier, were still working hard to make sure that everything went well in

See Full Page