Coal Valley, IL - February 13, 2015 - Niabi Zoo announced today the birth of a male giraffe calf on Tuesday, February 10, at 3:28am. This is the sixth giraffe born at Niabi Zoo since 2007.
The baby giraffe, which has not yet been named, was born to Mimi, Niabi Zoo's 11 year old female. This is Mimi's fourth baby. The father is Kenya, an 8 year old male. The baby weighed 107 pounds at birth and stands about five and a half feet tall.
"Mimi and her new calf are doing very well," said Zoo Director Marc Heinzman. "We're all very excited to have a healthy and thriving giraffe calf born here at Niabi Zoo. He's certainly a welcome addition to our giraffe herd." Niabi Zoo staff had been monitoring Mimi's pregnancy closely, including regular checks throughout the night for the last several weeks and 24 hour video monitoring through a system of surveillance cameras.
The new calf is expected to be publicly viewable once the Zoo opens for the 2015 season on March 23. At that time, a contest will also be launched in order to select a name for the male giraffe.
The giraffe, Giraffa camelopardalis, is the world's tallest mammal. Average height for an adult giraffe is 14-19 feet and the average weight is 1,800 - 3,000 pounds.
They are herbivores, using their 18 inch tongues to help pull leaves from the branches of tall trees. Although their necks are unusually long, they have only seven neck vertebrae, just like humans. After a gestation of approximately 14 months, giraffes give birth standing up. The calf drops five to six feet to the ground. This fall helps the calf take its first breath. Calves can stand usually within a few hours and run with their mothers within ten hours. Nearly six feet tall a birth, calves normally weigh 100 - 150 pounds and can grow as much as one inch per day.
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