Whats happening
A tall order is filled at Auckland Zoo
8 March 2010
Auckland Zoo has welcomed its 29th giraffe calf, with a male calf born just after 6am on Friday, 5 March.
Standing 1.8m tall and weighing a healthy 55kg, the newcomer is the third offspring of nine-year-old mum Rukiya and 11-year-old Zabulu, who are also parents to Forrest - now at Australia Zoo. Their first calf, born in May 2006, did not survive.
Mum Rukiya and the leggy newcomer have undergone vet checks and are in good health, but Auckland Zoo Pridelands team leader Nat Sullivan is keeping a close eye on them.
"Rukiya and the calf seem to be doing well, but the three-hour labour was a little bit longer than normal, so she's going to be pretty tired.
"We're going to give her and her calf some time to bond in private like they would in the wild," she says.
Mum and calf will be gradually integrated with other giraffe, zebra and ostrich in the giraffe paddock in Pridelands, and zoo visitors can expect to see them out and about strutting their stuff sometime within the next few weeks.
At some point in the future, this male calf will be relocated to another zoo in the Australasian region as part of the breeding programme for this species. Auckland Zoo's giraffe population now stands at three, but that will increase to four in the coming months when a female giraffe arrives from Adelaide's Monarto Zoo.
Visit our website for more up-to-date information about the calf and its progress.
Did you know?
- a newborn giraffe stands at 1.8m tall - about the same size as an All Black lock forward. It needs to be this tall to be able to reach up and suckle milk from its mother
- it is thought that the dark colour of a giraffe's tongue protects it from getting sunburned while reaching for leaves on trees
- a giraffe has the same number of vertebrae in its neck as a human - seven. They are just much bigger in size.