Zoo Miami giraffe gives birth to her sixth baby. Naturally, Ron Magill has photos
Zoo Miami knows a thing or two about birthing giraffes.
The South Miami-Dade landmark just delivered its 57th.
At 6:30 Tuesday evening, Sabra, a nearly 12-year-old giraffe, gave birth to a female calf, Zoo Miami spokesman Ron Magill said.
By Wednesday morning, zoo staffers helped separate mother and calf — just for a bit — so that the newborn could get her neonatal exam to make sure all seems OK.
What’s up with the bag?
One of the first questions that may come to your mind when looking over Magill’s photographs is, ‘How come there’s a cloth bag over baby’s head?’
Magill has to chuckle.
“It keeps them calm!” he said. “When they cannot see what is going on around them, they tend to be much calmer. As soon as the towel comes off, they start fighting and, even as newborns, they are a handful!”
He’s not kidding. The as-yet unnamed calf stood a proud five-feet-tall and weighed about 120 pounds.
“Initial indications are that the calf is healthy and she was quickly returned to her mother in an off-exhibit area,” a zoo release said. Mom and tot will stay there for a while, at least until the zoo crew feels that the calf is ready to be introduced to the rest of the herd on exhibit.
Sabra has now delivered six calves. She came to Zoo Miami in 2013 from the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines, Iowa.
She also gave birth to the 56th giraffe born in Zoo Miami’s 42-year history in 2019. Titan was the father to that one. Sabra and Titan were also parents to Zoo Miami’s 50th giraffe birth in 2016.
Dad’s name is Malcolm. He’s 5, came to Zoo Miami in 2018 from the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska, and he’s fathered four.
Magill’s giraffe facts
▪ Giraffe pregnancies last about 15 months.
▪ We may get a slap on the rear in the delivery room to get us crying to get our lungs to fill with blessed air after we’re born. Giraffes don’t have it so easy. Mothers rarely, if ever, lie down while giving birth. “The newborn falls four-six feet to the floor where it receives quite an introduction to the world!” Magill notes.
▪ The status of the giraffe in the wild is listed as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature due to significant reductions to their populations over the last several years. There are about 68,000 giraffes in the wild as of June 2021, the group says, but the number has fallen by some 40% in the last three decades.
