Shombay (Courtesy of the National Zoo)

A 12-year-old male cheetah named Shombay died over the weekend at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, the National Zoo announced today.

Cheetahs raised in human captivity typically live between 8-12 years (6-8 years in the wild). So when zookeepers detected a growth in Shombay’s abdomen earlier this year, they elected to monitor its growth rather that perform surgery on the aging animal. “A final pathology report will provide more information, but his health had been in decline for the past few months,” the zoo said in a release.

Shombay, who was born at the Columbus Zoo in 2003, was the last living cheetah produced via artificial insemination. He never fathered any offspring.

Need a pick-me-up now? Here are pictures of the zoo’s baby red baby panda cubs. Three(!) sets of litters were born between May 31 and June 14. Zookeepers at the SCBI are hand-rearing the cubs from two of the three litters.

(Photo by Janice Sveda, courtesy of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute)

(Photo by Janice Sveda, courtesy of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute)

(Photo by Janice Sveda, courtesy of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute)