Wellington’s new baby giraffe has already outgrown its keepers, with its cousin in Auckland due in just a few weeks.
It’s only been two weeks since the calf was born, and now that she is finding her feet, Wellington Zoo's Animal Care Manager Nic Dunn says things are going smoothly.
“The challenges we’ve faced here haven’t been unusual to giraffes in human care. With Zuri being a new mum, everything’s been great, except for the baby knowing where to find milk on mum. So, bonding was great, but that bit wasn’t so good.”
It means that the vet and zookeeper team were bottle-rearing her.
“But that’s not complete hand-rearing. We haven’t had to separate her away from her family. We’re keeping her in with mum and dad and aunty.”
Another big challenge is the size of the calf, as she now weighs close to 80kg.
“So it’s a big old baby. If anything goes wrong, normally we’re able to take it down to our veterinary hospital on site. That’s not possible with this young lady. Everything has to be done up here in the house.”
Despite the effort involved in raising a 1.8m baby, the pregnancy was planned by staff.
“Moving giraffes in and out of Wellington is a real problem, and we have to think about the welfare of animals we’re bringing and sending out of the city.
"And so, to be able to breed giraffes here and continue the herd going in generations, that’s the best thing to do.”
It’s a similar story in Auckland, where giraffe Kiraka is expecting a baby soon. She is currently 14 months pregnant.
Dunn says the imminent arrival is “keeping things in the family”, as the Auckland dad is brothers with the Wellington dad, Sunny.
The team is also putting naming rights in the public’s hands.
“We’ve shortlisted some names, waited to see what type of character she had and chose some names that are appropriate.
"That will be going out to the community very soon - in the next few days.”
People can visit Wellington Zoo throughout the summer to see the new baby.
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