A 5-foot, 10-inch baby? See the adorably huge newborn at Indiana zoo
A massive newborn at an Indiana zoo is not even one month old and is already taller than the average person, photos show.
The 5-foot, 10-inch, 150-pound baby giraffe at the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo is “doing very well in the days following her birth,” zoo officials said Sept. 5 on Facebook.
Photos show the lanky newborn peering toward the camera from one of her parent’s sides.
Zoo officials didn’t reveal the newborn’s name but said “introductions amongst the giraffes have been going well.”
The giraffe was born Aug. 16 to 11-year-old Faye and 14-year-old Ezeji, officials said.
Soon guests will be able to see the herd’s newest addition in the zoo’s African Journey exhibit, officials said. The zoo allows the animals in its care to choose whether they want to hang out in the exhibits or stay behind the scenes.
“Please be patient with the new little one as she becomes comfortable with the exhibit space,” officials said.
The baby is the zoo’s “newest ambassador representing wild giraffe in Africa,” where giraffe populations “continue to plummet due to poaching, habitat destruction, and civil unrest,” officials said.
The zoo didn’t say how long it had been since a giraffe was born there, but some in the comments section indicated it had been a little while and said they were excited by the news.
“Aww! We haven’t had a baby giraffe at the zoo since Sukari left when I was an intern!” someone said.
That was in 2020, when the babies’ mutual mom Faye was 7 years old, according to the zoo’s blog.
“She looks so much like her older sister that was born a few years ago,” someone else on Facebook said.
Fort Wayne is about a 125-mile drive northeast from Indianapolis.
This story was originally published September 9, 2024 at 1:55 PM with the headline "A 5-foot, 10-inch baby? See the adorably huge newborn at Indiana zoo."
