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April, who had
been due to give birth in January or February at Animal
Adventure Park in Harpursville, in western New York, was
pregnant for at least 16 months, compared with the typical
gestation period of 15 months, according to zoo officials.
April's celebrity and the public fascination with her unborn
calf blossomed when the zoo began providing a live YouTube
stream in February.
Hundreds of thousands of viewers have watched the 15-year-old
April since then, and more than a million people witnessed the
birth on the livestream.
The YouTube page on Saturday showed April going into labor and
the hooves of the baby first emerging from the standing mother.
Afterwards, the spindly 6-foot-tall (1.83-meter) calf, estimated
to weigh as much as 150 pounds (68 kg), was seen standing at its
mother's side.
Zoo officials later announced on their Twitter page that the
newborn giraffe was male and posted a photo of the still-unnamed
calf and its mother with the message: "All is well." The zoo
plans to hold a contest to name the baby.
Classed as vulnerable by the International Union for
Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species in 2016,
giraffes are the world's tallest mammals. The species is usually
found in dry savanna zones in sub-Saharan Africa.
(Reporting by Gina Cherelus in New York; Additional reporting by
Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Leslie Adler and
Sandra Maler)
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