The Abilene Zoo is Elated to Announce the Birth of a New Baby Giraffe
The Abilene Zoo is excited to announce the birth of an adorable giraffe calf on Friday afternoon, June 24th. The baby and the 11-year-old mom whose name is Jamie are both doing well. Mama Jamie is well experienced as this is the third calf she has given birth to.
The Abilene Zoo's Animal Care had been monitoring Jamie as was getting closer to the due time. When the care team noticed that mama was beginning to go into full-on labor, which began just before one o'clock. She moved into the Zoo's Giraffe Safari habitat inside, shortly thereafter mama Jamie then quickly moved into the Giraffe Barn holding area that is behind the scenes.
Interestingly, when a baby giraffe is born they fall approximately six feet to the ground.
After the baby giraffe was born at 1:50 PM, the calf remained laying down for about thirty minutes (as you'll see in the video below) and an interesting fact is that when born a giraffe falls about six feet to the ground. The baby stands up for the first time and stayed right next to mama.
The baby calf is roughly 6 feet tall, and the calf's weight will be taken in due time. That process will more than likely be around the first of the week, as the Zoo's Animal Care Team will be assessing the newborn giraffe.
As for the naming of the baby giraffe that will come in due time, the calf is a female. The Abilene Zoo Care Team will be keeping us updated on the baby giraffe in the coming days, and we'll be keeping you updated on baby and mama as well.
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Gallery Credit: Rudy Fernandez