Cameras at the zoo have captured the moment a rare giraffe arrives into the world!
The adorable newcomer was born falling more than two metres onto a bed of soft straw in the early hours of Saturday 6 August. This brought an end to a 15 month-long pregnancy for 14-year-old mum, Orla.
Keepers have named the new male calf Stanley after Mount Stanley, the tallest mountain in Uganda in Africa, where the zoo’s conservationists are fighting to boost giraffe numbers.
The incredible CCTV footage also shows the moment the newborn stands up and takes his very first steps and enjoys his first feed. Zookeepers say this moment is ‘vitally important’ for the bond between mum and baby.
Mum-to-be Orla was stood next to Dagmar, another experienced mum, for the delivery as she readied herself for the final push. Her calf then arrived into the world with quite the bump, causing the rest of the herd to jump to their feet. The excitement of a new calf suddenly appearing shortly before 3am certainly gave everyone quite the awakening!
Sarah Roffe, Giraffe Team Manager
Sarah also says…
“This two-metre high fall is a really important part of the birthing process as it’s what helps to break the umbilical cord and stimulates the calf to take its very first breath. While tiny in comparison to mum Orla, her new arrival was born already towering above us at 6ft tall and weighing a hefty 72kg!
“Following the dramatic birth, it’s vitally important that the calf gets to its feet quickly and ventures over to mum for its first feed. It’s these precious early moments that help to cement that special bond between the two of them. That’s exactly what occurred between Orla and her baby only minutes after his birth. It’s early days, but so far the calf is looking strong, healthy and very content, which is brilliant to see.”
Right across Africa giraffes are listed as vulnerable to extinction by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), with fewer than 2,500 remaining in East Africa.
However, in some parts of Uganda where the zoo and its partners are actively working, numbers are steadily on the rise thanks to decades of conservation efforts.
Mike Jordan, the Director of Animals and Plants here at the zoo, added:
“For many years giraffes across Africa have been experiencing a silent extinction, and now the world’s tallest land mammal is one of the at-risk species. Having a healthy new calf on the ground here at the zoo is therefore fantastic news for the threatened species breeding programme that’s boosting numbers in conservation zoos like ours.
“Our team of giraffe experts have been helping our long term partners, the Giraffe Conservation Foundation and the Uganda Wildlife Authority, to protect, monitor and, in some cases, translocate giraffes from one area of Uganda to another. Just over two decades ago the number of giraffes in Kidepo Valley National Park was in single digits, but with these conservation efforts it’s now a protected reserve that’s home to more than 70 adult Rothschild’s giraffes, with calves being born year on year. This is just one of the many successful conservation stories that our charity zoo is proud to be part of and really shows that there are good people out there fighting to save species from extinction.”
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