MARCH 3, 2022 — An exceptional new birth has just taken place at the ZooParc de Beauval on February 28: a giraffe! He is a male, son of Baya and little brother of Kimia born on July 22, 2019. His father is Momo, the only adult male in the group.
The newborn is doing well. The veterinarians carried out his first auscultation about 24 hours after his birth, thus leaving time to create the mother-child bond. He already weighs 79 kg and is about 2 m tall. Full of life, the little one easily stands up to go and suckle his mother many times.
LOTS MORE PICS BELOW THE FOLD!
A look back at the happy event that took place in the heart of the African Savannah animal building…
Under the careful supervision of the teams of caretakers and veterinarians, the birth lasted about 3h30, the work having started around 10h50. The baby was born at 2:28 p.m. Baya immediately cleaned him up and stimulated him with a paw to invite him to stand up. Which he did after about twenty minutes. He thus found his balance on his still fragile legs. In the wild, like many predatory animals, giraffes get up and move very quickly to escape predators.
In order to facilitate the work, Baya remained alone in a quiet box, then was joined by Chloë, another female. His presence encouraged the future mother to walk continuously, a very useful attitude during labor to facilitate expulsion. Then once the forelegs and head appeared, Chloë walked over and licked the baby’s nostrils helping to loosen the fetal envelopes. Then the rest of the body (shoulders and hind legs) followed. The baby was born safely moments later.
All the ZooParc teams are delighted with this event, which brings the number of giraffes living at the ZooParc to 8. It’s a superb group that continues to grow with the arrival of 3 new giraffes in just under 3 years, Kimia in July 2019, Melman in July 2021 and Maïwenn a few days ago! Yes, because this baby was named Maïwenn in tribute to a donor, passionate about Beauval and giraffes, who made a magnificent legacy to the Beauval Nature association.
More good news: According to the latest estimates from the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF), the number of giraffes is increasing. Today there are around 117,000 vs. 97,000 in 2015, an increase of nearly 20% in 7 years!
Beauval Nature supports the GCF in its actions to conserve and safeguard reticulated giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata), classified as “endangered” in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
