(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — After a nearly 15-month wait, officials at the Brookfield Zoo announced that a female giraffe calf was born over the weekend.
Officials said the zoo has been on “baby watch” since mid-July, and after an hour of labor in the early morning hours of Aug. 19, 16-year-old Arnieta gave birth to a nearly 130-pound, 6-foot-tall female giraffe.
About one hour after she was born, the calf stood up and began nursing from her mother, which is normal for giraffes.
“We are so excited to welcome this new addition and look forward to our guests coming out to see her,” said Joan Daniels, the senior director of hooved mammal care and conservation for the Chicago Zoological Society.
In order to help Arnieta carry her calf to term, the zoo’s animal care staff had her on a daily regimen of hormones and antibiotics, which they hoped would help make this a successful pregnancy after she experienced two miscarriages in 2021 and 2022.
The calf’s sire is Alto, a 7-year-old giraffe who arrived at Brookfield Zoo in 2017. This is his first offspring.
According to the zoo, a giraffe mother gives birth standing up, and the newborn calf will fall about 5 feet to the ground. The calf will be mostly inactive during the first month or two, which allows its energy to be used for growth. In the first six months, officials said a calf might grow as much as 3 feet.
This is Arnieta’s second calf. It will be a few weeks before she makes her public debut at Habitat Africa.
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