April The Giraffe Manages To Shock Everyone, Including Animal Adventure Park

April the giraffe has managed to shock everyone the last few days, including Animal Adventure Park. On Friday, the park was confident that April was going to give birth within 24 to 48 hours, but she threw everyone for a loop by dragging this pregnancy on even longer than expected. When will she give birth?

While the world watches the Animal Adventure Park’s live cam, they hope to see a baby giraffe born soon. For weeks now, April’s fans have been led to believe she’s going to give birth “any day” or “any hour.” To the shock of her caretakers and even her vet, April the giraffe hasn’t gone into active labor yet.

The park was stunned to learn that April’s udder bagged up more when they thought it couldn’t get any larger.

“When we thought she could not ‘bag up’ further – she most certainly has,” they wrote.

The Sunday, April 2 evening update on Animal Adventure Park’s Facebook page was a lengthy post, but the main message addressed several concerns and questions people have had.

“No, she isn’t late; no, she isn’t overdue; no, I’m not concerned she is ‘taking so long,’ nor should you be. Yes she remains happy and comfortable (considering the circumstances). Yes, she will have this calf when she is good and ready. No, public outcry won’t change that. No, I cannot induce her, nor should we want to… (those are human constructs which don’t apply to large wild animals and only endanger the life of April and her calf ).”

It was also revealed that April won’t be induced unless there’s lack of progression when she’s in active labor. In other words, if the calf is visible coming out of April and nothing else happens, then the vet will intervene.

April the giraffe is normally a “pig” and loves her food, Animal Adventure Park owner Jordan Patch revealed on Good Morning America on Friday. As noted in the Saturday night update, April isn’t touching her grain, but is accepting carrots.

As of Sunday morning, Animal Adventure Park didn’t have much to report other than the usual they’ve detected in April for several days. They indicated that “increased discharge, continued lack of interest in food, full udders” were present in the 15-year-old giraffe. They added that April “continues to be a bit out of character” — meaning she’s staring a lot into space, acting odd, and generally not herself.

As seen on the live cam, April is seen frequently pacing her stall, raising her tail, and lifting her legs. More of this behavior is expected until April begins calving.

Despite the giraffe baby taking his or her own sweet time arriving, viewers are hooked on watching Animal Adventure Park’s live cam. They love April and know sooner or later she’s going to give birth — and they don’t want to miss it. Her exact due date isn’t known because mating behaviors were observed between April and Oliver in late 2015. Giraffes have several mating sessions over a period of time before a calf is conceived. Vets and animal experts can detect how far along a giraffe is in her pregnancy by the physical and behavioral changes. April has shown all the signs of being ready to give birth.

Patch continued in his Sunday evening post that he’s not making anymore predictions about when April will have her baby calf. Last week he predicted March 28 and on Friday he thought it would happen for sure on Saturday or Sunday. At this point, he says all people can do is get more popcorn and enjoy the show until April is ready to give birth.

Are you still keeping an eye on April the giraffe on Animal Adventure Park’s live cam?

[Featured Image by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images]