Joining and bonding with your herd, just two weeks after your birth, is a momentous occasion.
There are no wrapped gifts, of course, nor streamers or balloons hanging from the ceiling. But there is a coming-togetherness of giraffean joy, which lends the happy happening all the gravitas it needs.
The Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens welcomed a female Masai giraffe on Tuesday, July 11. The not-so-bouncing, already-standing baby's parents? Zainabu and Phillip, a pair of five-year-old residents of the Griffith Park-based animal park.
As is the way with young giraffes, the calf, who does not yet have a name, will make a fairly fast public debut. Her herd meet-up date? It's Wednesday, July 26, just two weeks and a day after her arrival here on Planet Earth.
The Species Survival Program, which "...breeds Masai giraffes in order to ensure the survival of the species that is threatened in the wild," is woven into this baby's back story.
Baby's weight at birth? The scale showed 156 pounds, a number that'll go up, up, up like a giraffe standing to feed from a high branch. Masai giraffes can eventually top out at 2,700 pounds and stand around 17 feet tall, says the zoo.
These fascinating facts are behind the LA Zoo's call to giraffe fans to come soon, should they want to view the baby in all of her relative smallness. She's predicted to hit 10 feet, or just under, by next July, when her first birthday rolls around.
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A birthday that, like her debut, won't boast balloons or streamers or wrapped gifts but will have all of the power and beauty of life lived in a close-knit herd.
If you're a real Masai giraffe maven, consider the giraffe feedings, which feature adult Masai giraffes. For more information, check in with the Los Angeles Zoo.
