6-FOOT BABY WHO LANDED WITH A BUMP!
... after all, it was a LONG way down from mummy’s tummy for Chester Zoo’s oh-so cute new superstar
LEARNING to walk is a hazardous time for any baby. There are bound to be wobbles and falls — so imagine how hard it must be when the baby arrives with legs that are 3 ft long.
Yet with encouragement from Orla his devoted mum, Narus, the newborn giraffe who arrived at Chester Zoo on April 3, was walking on his spindly pins within an hour.
Chester Zoo, one of the UK’s most visited tourist attractions, has heard more than one patter of tiny hooves recently. Narus is the second calf to be born into the zoo’s herd of 11 endangered Rothschild’s giraffes in the past five months.
And — as the adorable footage on Channel 4’s The Secret Life Of The Zoo has shown — like humans, giraffes also need a bit of practice at becoming perfect parents. Here, we look at the secrets of these gentle giants . . .
UNSUBTLE SEDUCTION NOT TO BE SNIFFED AT
IT MAY not be the most romantic way to woo your mate, but male giraffes — which grow to 18ft high — sniff the female’s urine to find out if she is ready to get pregnant.
The female gets a bit of a cuddle as the male tenderly rests his head against her flank and starts to rub his neck against hers.
If she doesn’t respond to his approaches, he simply follows her around until she does.
Giraffes live in mixed-gender herds of between 12 and 20 animals. At Chester Zoo, seven-yearold meru is the herd’s breeding bull and all-round Casanova. He is doing a fine job of single-handedly increasing the world’s stock of Rothschild’s giraffes, having fathered five calves in five years.
The breed, one of nine giraffe sub-species, was named after Victorian zoologist Walter Rothschild, who identified them by the thicker white lines between their tan-coloured patches and lack of markings below the knee.
There are fewer than 1,600 in the wild, due to loss of habitat in Africa and poaching for meat.
meru’s brood includes murchison, the calf he conceived with herdmate Tula, who arrived on Boxing Day last year. Last week he became a dad yet again when Orla gave birth to Narus.
Giraffe keeper Sarah Roffe says: ‘At first meru was inexperienced with the females. He was also smaller, so we thought he’d need to stand on a phone book.
‘But he was a fast learner and has grown bigger. He’s the leader of the group.’
However, meru has an easy path to romance thanks to the lack of competition. In the wild he would have to win the right to mate with females in the herd, fighting rival bulls by batting them with his head — this is one reason why male giraffes have longer necks and heavier skulls than females.
EATING FOR TWO — FOR 16 HOURS A DAY
GIRAFFES adore their food and will eat for up to 16 hours a day.
They evolved their amazingly long necks in order to reach vegetation that was too high for other animals, yet they have the same number of neck vertebrae as humans — seven, though theirs are each up to 10 in long.
To help them strip leaves from the branches of their favourite acacia and mimosa bushes and trees in the wild, they have a 20 in tongue, which they use like a finger to pluck leaves from between thorns. The tongue is purple to provide extra protection from the sun, as it spends rather a lot of time exposed.
To avoid fallouts over who gets which leaves, male and female giraffes have different ways of feeding. He stretches his neck up to reach the very highest branches while she targets the tasty lower bushes.
When she fell pregnant, motherto-be Tula, who weights 94st, certainly ate for two, says giraffe keeper Sarah, who fed her on apples and willow branches.
‘She is a pushy one, so she was at the front of the queue at feeding time. We could also tell when she was almost ready to give birth because she developed milk sacs two weeks before — with four teats, even though giraffes usually only give birth to one baby at a time.’
CASANOVA DAD ACTS AS BIRTHING COACH
IN THE final stages of a giraffe’s 16-month pregnancy, the expectant mother starts to pace around to try to relieve her labour pains.
She will also hold her tail up more often and pull facial expressions such as squinting.
Like any concerned dad, meru likes to be on hand to lend moral support, says Sarah.
Even though he has the run of the herd, when one of his females is in labour he will come close and check how she is getting on.
‘Giraffes are naturally curious and always rubbernecking to see what’s new,’ says Sarah. ‘When a female is giving birth, meru will tend to come to see how the labour is progressing.’
Amazingly, it is possible that he may be able to communicate his encouragement.
Recent studies at the University of Vienna found that giraffes make various humming noises that are too low for humans to hear, often at night, to reassure the other herd members they are safe.
During the day they also produce more audible moos, whistles and bleats.
BABIES ARE BORN SPINDLY LEGS FIRST
THERE is no gentle arrival for baby giraffes, as mum gives birth standing up.
As she is likely to be 14ft, the baby is dropping from a height of about 6ft — quite a crash landing. Zookeepers prepare for the occasion by making a soft landing pad from hay.
A newborn’s front hooves appear first, followed by its head, then the rest of its body.
Sarah told the mail: ‘Last week, Orla went into labour at around noon. for a while, all we could see were two spindly legs poking out.
‘It’s quite a drop for the calf to fall and they hit the ground with a thud, but it stimulates them into taking their first breath.’ Labour lasts for about four hours.
Baby giraffes come into the world about 6 ft tall and weighing around 10 st 10 lb, the weight of an average adult woman.
They are also born with small horns, called ossicones, which start out velvety and tufty.
At first, these lie flat against their heads to make them more streamlined during the birth. Within a day or two they pop upright.
FINDING THEIR FEET VERY FAST INDEED
IN THE wild, only between a quarter and half of baby giraffes survive their first year because they are so vulnerable to predators, including lions and hyenas.
Newborns have to get on their feet fast so they can keep up with their herd, which is constantly on the move. They are fast learners. By the time they are a few days old, baby giraffes can run alongside their mothers at up to 35 mph.
‘When they are first born, the calves have really bandy legs,’ says Sarah. ‘It’s nerve-racking to watch because they fall over as many as 20 or 30 times before they get the hang of how to walk.
‘The other reason they have to learn to stand up fast is so they can reach the mother’s udders.’
A SHARP KICK CAN KILL A HUNGRY LION
TAKING their first few steps is tricky for baby giraffes because their front legs are slightly longer than their rear ones.
At first they also look ungainly because they have such wide hooves to support their incredible height. By the time they reach adulthood, their hooves are 12 in wide, like dinner plates.
Those long legs also come in handy for defence. Though giraffes are timid by nature and more likely to run from an attacker than attempt to fight back, a sharp kick can kill a lion. Possibly because it’s