Sep 2010 Who can resist a baby giraffe, the gorgeous young offspring of some of the world’s most beautiful, delicate and peaceful creatures? The correct term is calf, but the name baby giraffe is how we know them. The parents are also wonderful to watch, with their graceful bodies, intricate markings and graceful long necks. Their physique seems hard to believe, and a baby giraffe taking those first few steps in the world adds cuteness and infant charm to the inherited beauty of the adult creature.
A baby giraffe is born 14 to 15 months after the parents have mated, and the mother will only have one baby giraffe at a time. Very rarely the mother will have not just one baby giraffe, but two. For the first few weeks the baby giraffe will stay close to the mother. After that the baby giraffe will join a group of young which is called a crèche.
A baby giraffe can look forward to up to 25 years of life in the wild, and a baby giraffe born in a zoo should live even longer. The female giraffes are sociable and stay in the herd, and so does each baby giraffe, male or female. Only the older male giraffes have a solitary lifestyle, wandering between female herds to find partners on heat.
The courtship of the male and female to bring a new baby giraffe into the world can look quite romantic. Once the male finds a female on heat he will eat beside her, often tangling necks as they reach up into the leaves of the acacia tree high above the heads of other grazers. Once the baby giraffe is born the mother will fight off predators by kicking out at them with her large hooves.
The idea that a baby giraffe joins a crèche makes it feel as if we have something in common with this creature. An unusual factor is that the baby giraffe will be left alone in the crèche, as these groups of young giraffes often have no adult supervision. As predators are a constant threat, the baby giraffe will soon learn to be watchful. A baby giraffe begins to cultivate the habit of sleeping only about half-an-hour a day and will divide this into five-minute naps.
Although we love a baby giraffe, the main threat to the survival of this animal comes from humans. People still hunt giraffes and the main damage is caused by our destruction of their habitat. Hunting and habitat loss have led to extinction in Mauritania, Senegal, and possibly Mozambique and Mali.
