Adorable Baby Giraffe Stands Up Just Seconds After Being Born At World’s Oldest Zoo

A heartwarming video shows the birth of an endangered giraffe calf that stood up seconds after it was delivered at the world’s oldest zoo.

The incredible CCTV caught the moment the unnamed male calf was dropped onto the ground from a height of nearly two metres from its mum on Wednesday afternoon, 12th July.

But the young one astonished zookeepers at the Schoenbrunn Zoo, in the city of Vienna, Austria, when it got up and made its first steps just moments later. it then went on to suckle from its mum.

Head of the zoological department Simone Haderthauer explained that this trait gives giraffes the possibility to flee possible predators such as lions or hyenas in their natural habitat, savannas.

Haderthauer said in a statement obtained by Newsflash from Schoenbrunn Zoo: “Giraffes deliver while standing.

“The young animal is born with its front legs first.”

She explained that the calf was its mum’s second joy, after she previously gave birth to a female offspring a year and a half ago.

Reticulated giraffes – indigenous to Somalia, southern Ethiopia, and northern Kenya – are among the land mammals with the longest gestation period at around 15 months, said zoo authorities.

Haderthauer said: “The mother has been very caring ever since the very first moment, [she] licks her offspring and checks on it regularly. The little one is suckling well.”

Zookeepers have so far separated the newborn and its mum from the rest of the group, to simulate a wild environment where bearing giraffes isolate themselves from the rest of the herd.

The zoo said: “If everything goes according to plan, the other group members will get to know the calf over the next few days. So will his older sister.

“Thanks to the caring care and close observation by the experienced animal care team, the integration of the young animal into the group should work well.

“Not only is the Schoenbrunn Zoo happy about the offspring in the herd of giraffes, it is also an important contribution to the European conservation breeding of the endangered reticulated giraffe.”

The species is listed as ‘endangered’ on IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species. There are approximately 8,500 individuals living in the wild.