The Paris Zoological Park announced the birth of a giraffe calf on September 12, marking the zoo’s first giraffe birth in six years.
The newborn, a female, weighs 44 kilograms (97 pounds) and measures 1.63 metres (5.3 feet). She joins the zoo’s herd of ten adult giraffes, made up of eight females and two males.
“This is symbolically very important, especially since it’s a female,” said Alex Lecu, the zoo’s scientific and veterinary manager. He noted that the calf is the 160th giraffe born at the park since its establishment in 1934.
The calf belongs to the Kordofan giraffe subspecies, native to Sudan, Cameroon, Chad, and the Central African Republic. The subspecies is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), making the birth a significant milestone for conservation.
“Since we reopened in 2014, there haven’t been that many births,” Lecu said, adding that the event represents a “real victory” for the park’s breeding programme.
The giraffe’s name has not yet been disclosed.
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