A baby giraffe was born a few weeks ago at the Debrecen Zoo and Amusement Park.
The adorable baby, named Daahir, is a boy and was born to mom, Emma from Wilhelma Zoo Stuttgart and dad, Sylvester from Allwetterzoo Münster Despite a delivery without difficulty Mother Emma did not provide appropriate maternal behavior, so hand-rearing became necessary. But just an hour after the birth, the infant at stood on spindly legs and wobbled as he took his first steps. The strong more than two-week-old calf stands five and a half feet tall and weighs 150 pounds now.
The charming baby giraffe welcomes visitors every day. With him, the European population of Reticulated giraffes has grown to 163 specimens.
The Reticulated giraffe is one of the nine separate subspecies of giraffes. Birth is significant as there are less than 80,000 reticulated giraffes in wild. Reticulated giraffes are native to Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. In just 30 years the global giraffe population has fallen by up to 40% due to poaching for bush meat and habitat encroachment.
In 2006 Debrecen Zoo joined the EAZA’s Reticulated Giraffe EEP aiming to protect the survival of this subspecies and since then it maintains the only Reticulated giraffe herd in Hungary.
On the following link you can follow the adventures of Daahir online:
Source: Debrecen Zoo and Amusement Park Official Facebook Page
