ASHEBORO N.C. (ACME NEWS) – Determining the sex of a kitten can be difficult, and the North Carolina Zoo is admitting it made a mistake when it announced the sexes of its trio of sand cat kittens born in May.
On June 2, 2023, the zoo announced the birth of three sand cat kittens. Several weeks later, in a news release, the zoo revealed the kittens’ sexes — one male and two females — and launched an online poll allowing the public to choose names for the tiny desert felines.
The public naming poll drew more than 15,000 responses. The winning names were Amira and Cleo for the females, and Jabari for the male.
The zoo has since announced it made an error in determining the kittens’ sexes. Rather than two females and a male, the zoo has two males and a female.
To honor the names chosen in the poll, Amira — an Arabic name meaning “princess” — will now be named Amir, an Arabic name meaning “prince.”
###
