A zoo’s baby giraffe is causing quite a stir thanks to the little animal’s adorable and awkward antics during her public debut this month. The creature was born at Houston Zoo early on the morning of August 3, 2014.
Nearly two weeks after the birth of the zoo’s baby giraffe, workers made the decision to put the diminutive animal on display for the first time. Of course, she’s only small compared to the adult giraffes; baby giraffes can be six feet tall. After some bonding time with her mother, zookeepers introduced other members of the herd to the baby giraffe one at a time to familiarize her with the other animals.
The recent addition of this long-legged bundle of joy brought the total number of animals in the zoo’s herd of giraffes to 10, according to TIME . The zoo’s baby giraffe is named Kamili, which is a Swahili name meaning perfect or perfection. While the name is suitable for both males and females, it is not currently a popular baby name in the United States. Perhaps that will change with the arrival of the Houston Zoo’s baby giraffe.
Little Kamili is a female giraffe. Baby giraffes are also called calves, just like cattle. Also like cows, giraffes are ruminants. They have four stomachs to digest their food.
Visitors to the zoo during the animal’s highly anticipated debut were able to watch Kamili as she grew accustomed to her new surroundings and nuzzled her mother affectionately. According to Kim Siegl, animals like Kamili draw crowds for one special reason. Baby animals are undeniably cute. Siegl is the Giraffe Senior Keeper at the Houston Zoo. So she knows a thing or two about baby giraffes.
Even The Week commented on the zoo’s baby giraffe , pointing out her lovable yet awkward gait as she ambled about the giraffe enclosure.
“Just look at this awkward little thing — relatively little thing, I suppose, since the baby is still six feet tall — acting like it has totally done this whole ‘walking’ thing many times before.”
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, another zoo’s baby giraffe came to a horrifying public end when zookeepers slaughtered the innocent critter in front of startled children and their parents. Earlier this year, workers at the Copenhagen Zoo decided to butcher a healthy young giraffe, dismember him and feed him to a lion. The cruel and unnecessary slaughter of Marius the giraffe led to numerous death threats against workers at the Copenhagen Zoo.
What do you think of the Houston Zoo’s baby giraffe?
[Image via AP/YouTube ]
