Animal Adventure Park Live Giraffe Cam Gets Busier As April In ‘Home Stretch’
Things are progressing at Animal Adventure Park as April the giraffe prepares to welcome her fourth calf. The world has been watching the zoo’s live YouTube cam for weeks, waiting for mama giraffe to go into labor, and it appears that she is (finally) just about there! The latest updates from AAP are promising and suggest that we’re going to see a giraffe calf very soon!
This morning’s Facebook update on April’s condition confirmed that the countdown to active labor is indeed on. Although the zoo has been saying it almost daily, April’s calf will likely make an appearance in the coming days.
“She continues to progress. Mammary development stays remains as filled udders, and will likely not get much Larger. Discharge continues to be present. Appetite is so – so this morning. We continue calf countdown,” the zoo wrote.
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As previously reported by the Inquisitr, these are all signs that a giraffe is getting ready to go into labor. The zoo has been watching April’s mammary development and discharge closely this week as she does seem to be showing some significant changes. As mentioned, a loss of appetite is also a sign that labor is just around the corner.
Animal Adventure Park’s Thursday night update was even more exciting. The zoo has encouraged everyone to keep watching as April is really close!
“It was clear to all watching, the evening keeper check was cut short by April. Her behavior is very off from normal demeanor; this is to be expected. Mammary development photos were not captured, but udders reported as full. It should not be much longer.”
AAP also announced that text alerts will be made available starting tomorrow but will be subscription based.
“We hope to have an official text alert system available for subscription tomorrow. Subscribing will get you a Labor Alert text, but also exclusive texts, info, photo links, and calf updates over the coming months. Much of the content will be exclusive to the text alert community. A portion of the fee will get kicked back to the Giraffe Conservation Foundation for wild conservation of giraffes.”
There has been a noticeable increase in the amount of people tuning in to the zoo’s live giraffe cam since April has displayed these changes over the course of the week. Animal Adventure Park has done a great job at keeping everyone informed on April’s condition, and once they confirmed the “countdown” was on, more and more people have been keeping a close eye on her.
When April does go into labor, the process should be relatively quick. Giraffes are usually only in labor for about 20-30 minutes (which makes up for the 15 months they are pregnant). As you probably know by now, giraffes give birth standing up and calves are born hooves-first.
Animal Adventure Park’s decision to let the world watch this miracle of life is very cool and will be amazing for those who are fortunate enough to catch April at the right time!
If you’d like to learn more about Animal Adventure Park, be sure to watch owner Jordan Patch’s interview with Good Morning America on Friday morning!
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Keep your eyes on AAP’s Facebook page as they will post an update as soon as active labor is confirmed. Are you excited for this giraffe calf to be born? How long have you been following April on YouTube?
[Featured Image by Animal Adventure Park/Instagram]
