Baby Giraffe Born!
Posted at 7:24 pm November 10, 2005 by Sunni RobertsonAfter a long 15-month gestation period, Bahati, our 14-year-old female giraffe, gave birth last night. It is especially cool that the new baby’s birthday is November 9th because that is also his mother Bahati’s birthday. This is Bahati’s fifth baby, but only her second one here at the San Diego Zoo. She had three babies while at the Los Angeles Zoo. The baby’s father is Silver, our tall, dark, and handsome male giraffe.
Keepers have not had a chance to do a full exam on the baby, and so are unsure yet of the baby’s gender. However, they do know that Baby looks robust and healthy. When the baby was first discovered this morning at 4 a.m., it was already standing up next to its mother. Baby was weighed this morning and tipped the scales at 147 pounds (66 kilograms). Baby’s height is between 5′8″ and 5′10″ (1.76 to 1.78 meters) . Of course it goes without mentioning that the baby is extremely cute with big brown eyes and long eyelashes. Because our giraffes are in the Masai subspecies, the new baby will be given a Masai name as soon as its gender is determined.
Baby was on exhibit this morning with mom from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The giraffe keepers say you can generally expect to see the baby and mom together on exhibit during this time each day, but changes in this schedule may occur according to how mom and baby are feeling. Hopefully, Zoo guests will have a chance to personally welcome the 6th member of the herd here at the San Diego Zoo.
Sunni Robertson is an educator at the San Diego Zoo.
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November 10th, 2005 at 9:16 pm
What a wonderful ” birth” day gift for all involved. Congratulations to Mom, Dad, and your entire staff for all the hard work involved. May Baby ” live long and prosper.”
Anne
November 11th, 2005 at 4:45 am
Congratulations! Can’t wait to see pictures.
November 11th, 2005 at 8:21 am
Congratulations and Happy Birthday to Bahati and her new precious baby! What a thrill it must be to discover such a miraculous new life so early in the AM! A peaceful quiet time for mother and baby to bond. It has to be fascinating to watch the new little one explore and get acquainted with the world. Those incredible eyes on the beautiful baby face must be mesmerizing. Times like this must be some of the happiest and most fulfilling for a keeper! Congratulations to Silver too! And to all of the keepers who so devotedly care for all of these beautiful creatures-We are all so very proud of you and all that you do! Thank You! I hope to see this new little one soon. Luv to All, Judy J
November 11th, 2005 at 8:51 am
How wonderful! I can hardly wait to see this baby. Thank you for the interesting information — born on its Mother’s birthday, when the baby will be on exhibit, etc. I will be there in the next few days to meet this wonderful new addition.
November 11th, 2005 at 10:09 am
hello. Will there be a giraffecam?
November 11th, 2005 at 5:55 pm
Photos! The public wants photos! Thanks for all the updates…..
November 13th, 2005 at 5:17 pm
That is so sweet…
What miracles babies are! Can’t wait till it starts trotting along with mom. I have a question though – do you set up round-the-clock watches when you suspect the mother is due? Or are giraffe births usually quite smooth so you don’t need to monitor 24/7 when the baby arrives? Healthy wishes to mom and the little one. 
November 13th, 2005 at 11:11 pm
I was lucky enough to be at the zoo on the baby Giraffe’s first day out and to take wonderful photos of the other Giraffes greeting the baby. These are very social animals, they all came over to visit him. It was a wonderful first day welcome. He is a perfect 6 foot tall beauty.
November 14th, 2005 at 4:45 am
Greeting from Israel!
To mom Bahati and all the zoo family Congratulations
I hope that the Baby Giraffe will grow and be tall at least as mom Bahati is
Ofer Weisglass
Israel
November 16th, 2005 at 4:39 am
Long life and long neck to the baby!!!
Congratulations to all of you, mom and dad included
February 24th, 2006 at 11:07 am
I love Giraffes! Congrads on the new giraffe baby!
BYE!!!
September 5th, 2006 at 2:50 pm
please put up a giraffe cam. I am from Penn. and I just love the cams you have of the animals. don’t stop. thanks for the nice view. please do giraffes….
November 16th, 2006 at 6:58 am
I absolutely love love love love love love love giraffes they are just the cutest little animals on the earth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 25th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
I JUST LOVE GIRAFFES!!!!!!
April 1st, 2007 at 11:55 pm
Congrats Bahati. hope u have a happy birthday and live a long life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 17th, 2007 at 7:33 am
i am the giraffe freak of them all.
August 16th, 2007 at 10:11 am
I am so happy! I even got to see its birth! What is its name?
Moderator’s note: The birth you read about above happened in 2005. The birth you witnessed on August 2, 2007 was Bahati’s newest calf, a little female that has not been named yet. How lucky you were to see such a special event!
September 1st, 2007 at 5:50 pm
I am so happy about the new baby giraffe. I wonder what the giraffe’s name is?
April 17th, 2009 at 7:42 am
There was a beautiful new baby giraffe born yesterday at the San Diego Zoo. It is quite the sight to see- so precious! I have been waiting for the arrival and happened to go to the zoo yesterday afternoon only to learn that it was just born earlier in the day.