A lanky new friend may soon crane his neck to greet visitors at the Dallas Zoo.
In an Instagram post on Monday, zoo officials announced that a male giraffe was born earlier this month.
“Introducing the newest addition to our giraffe herd. He's a tiny leggy boy born April 1st to proud parents Katie and Tebogo,” the post reads. It's dark.
Tina Cloutier-Barber, vice president of animal care and welfare at the Dallas Zoo, said the calf was born in the late afternoon and early evening as staff were heading home.
There were no birth-related complications, but the calf, which has not yet been named, had difficulty nursing, Cloutier-Barbour said.
“This little boy couldn't quite figure it out, which meant we had to monitor him 24 hours a day until he figured out how to feed and was sure he was really doing well,” Cloutier-Barbour said. said. “It also meant we had to double-check that we had access to all the equipment we might need if intervention were needed.”
Cloutier-Barbour said she received a call from staff around 2 a.m. that the calf had been noticed. It's been over two weeks and the boy is healthy. As of Monday, he was 5-foot-5 and weighed 138 pounds, zoo officials said. He has already interacted with several of the zoo's other giraffes, including his older sister Nea.
“He followed his mom really well everywhere she went, which we really appreciate because that's really important for any kind of baby.” He has a really even-keeled personality. is. He really doesn't get upset easily. He seems curious and he has a very calm demeanor,” Cloutier-Barbour said.
Several giraffes have died at the Dallas Zoo in recent years. Most recently, Ferrell, a 15-year-old male, fell and injured his jaw and had to be euthanized.
Cloutier-Barbour said the zoo has made several changes in recent years to make the giraffe enclosures safer. In 2021, Association of Zoos and Aquariums staff and giraffe experts evaluated the Savannah Giant exhibit. The zoo added substrate to parts of the habitat that were showing erosion and installed cameras around exhibits to monitor animal interactions and behavior.
“When we actually experienced a really unfortunate loss, we had a very thorough investigation by experts across the country, and what we learned from that was that unfortunately they are things that we can't prevent. “It wasn't something that was meant to be,” she said. “Those were really bad accidents.”
It's unclear when the new calf will be available for public viewing, but it could be as early as a few weeks, Cloutier-Barbour said. Zoo staff narrowed the name down to three choices for the calf. She wouldn't reveal what the options were, but she said they all had to do with him being born on April Fool's Day.
“Stay tuned,” she said.
