Awwwww, aren’t they cute?
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
You can now see these baby reticulated giraffes at Busch Gardens, Tampa Bay. (The term “reticulated” refers to the giraffe’s net-like pattern of spots.) They are about 3 months old now, both born in April, but they have been kept private so they can be monitored to make sure they are healthy and growing properly. Moms Chloe and Tesa, and Sterling, the proud dad of both babies, will have some help from the rest of the herd now that they are all together, bringing the total number of giraffes to 17.
The calves are 6 foot tall already! Baby giraffes can grow 9 inches during the first month, and continue to grow at enormous rates during the first year. They were around 147 pounds when born and will grow to be between 15-18 feet tall and 2,600-4,000 pounds!
Check out this cute video posted by Sea World Parks and Entertainment (previously Worlds of Discovery) on YouTube of a young giraffe playing with an ostrich. And, see them in person at Busch Gardens’ 65-acre Serengeti Plain, a naturalistic habitat featuring a diverse population of free-roaming African animals like zebras, white rhinos and more!
And, don’t forget about those other little ones born earlier this year at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. That rare baby Gorilla, white-cheeked Gibbon, and white rhino are sure to have grown a lot now that they’re a few months old, it would be great to get to see them romping and playing!
