The 6-year-old Masai giraffe’s expected due date was Oct. 16-20, but at least finally the wait is over.
Giraffe births can sometimes take hours, but once she got started, Autumn delivered her calf quickly.
Autumn the giraffe delivered her calf just before midnight Monday.
After more than a year of waiting, the Greenville Zoo's giraffe, Autumn, gave birth Monday night. .
Giraffe births can sometimes take hours, but once she got started, Autumn delivered the calf quickly.
To keep an eye on Autumn and her new baby, click HERE to go to the livestreaming Earth Cam.
It was very still for several minutes after birth, but in less than a half an hour, it was struggling to get to its feet. In less than an hour, the calf was standing and taking its first steps.
People from as far away as Australia and Japan have been watching the livestream in hopes of seeing Autumn's calf enter the world. Many fans said they lost sleep so they wouldn't miss the birth. Reports that they got last week, they had over 240,000 people viewing the webcam.”
Giraffes most typically give birth in the morning, so Autumn caught even some experts off-guard with her near midnight birth (time of the birth was 11:50pm)
Autumn and her mate are on a breeding loan. As part of the loan, Autumn came to the Greenville Zoo from the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston in 2007 to be paired with the zoo’s male giraffe, Walter, 7, from the San Diego Zoo.
Giraffe births are unusual in that they give birth while standing, and the baby is born hooves-first.
A newborn calf, which can weigh between 120-150 pounds and stand 6-feet tall at birth. Giraffes are one of the few animals born with horns on their heads.
Zoo officials said as Autumn prepared to deliver her calf, she was separated from Walter. The goal was to get the pair accustomed to being apart because once their calf is born they will be separated for several weeks -- although Walter looked on with great interest as his off-spring entered the world.