Denver Zoo Welcomes Baby Giraffe
DENVER (CBS4) - The Denver Zoo welcomed the birth of a baby giraffe Tuesday morning.
Dobby the giraffe was born to mother Kipele at 3 a.m., measuring five-feet-tall and weighing 73 pounds.
Zookeepers did not know until recently that Kipele was pregnant since she was on birth control.
"This was certainly a welcome addition to the Denver Zoo family," said Brian Aucone, Denver Zoo Senior Vice President for Animal Care and Conservation, in a statement. "Dobby may not have been a planned birth, but now that he's here, we're excited to have him and look forward to him engaging with our guests."
The Denver Zoo quietly welcome the addition of Dobby as the world watches and waits for April the giraffe to give birth to a calf on a live stream from the Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville, N.Y.
"Staff was monitoring Kipele overnight when she went into labor," Aucone said. "Although the birth went well, the calf was not initially nursing. Staff fed the infant and provided critical care in his first hours of life to get him back on track. Now he's nursing and we are feeling good about his health."
Dobby's mother Kipele was born at the Denver Zoo in August 1993, and is the oldest of the Zoo's giraffes. His father Dikembe was born at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, and arrived at the Denver Zoo in 1996.
This new addition brings the Zoo's giraffe herd to five.
Dobby is the first giraffe birth at the Denver Zoo since October 2010.