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Monarto’s Cute Baby Giraffes Ensuring The Future Of Their Wild Cousins

All of this baby giraffe news at Monarto Zoo means this South Australian zoo is successfully working to secure the uncertain future of the world’s tallest animal.

Delivering your daily dose of adorable news this Tuesday afternoon: the baby giraffe born 10 days ago at Monarto Zoo is apparently settling in well with the rest of the herd, and another giraffe is set to give birth in the coming weeks!

Born in the late afternoon of Saturday 9 December, the baby boy joins one of the largest herds in the country, and is one of the three calves born at Monarto Zoo this year.

Giraffe keeper Vaughan Wilson says the bundle of joy has been adored on by a doting mother and is very keen to play, especially with the two other youngsters.

While this is ultra-cute news, there is a seriousness to the matter. All of this baby news means that Monarto is successfully working to secure the future of the world’s tallest animal, which looks uncertain in the wild.

The zoo is proud to be the most successful giraffe breeding facility in Australasia, with the not-so-little baby marking the 43rd calf to be born at the zoo. Habitat loss, poaching and civil unrest has seen giraffe numbers plummet from around 155,000 in 1985 to just 97,000 in 2015; a decline of almost 40 per cent over three giraffe generations! This startling and devastating decline saw the giraffe reclassified as vulnerable to extinction last year by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Giraffe keeper Wilson says the addition of three giraffes to the herd this year is incredibly important as they will play an important role in helping us raise awareness for the plight of their wild cousins.

This latest arrival follows a string of exciting breeding successes at Monarto Zoo this year, including two giraffes earlier in the year, five critically endangered Cheetah cubs, two Spotted Hyena cubs, two zebra foals, four Meerkat pups, three African Crested Porcupines, a critically endangered Addax, endangered Przewalski’s Horse calf, a Scimitar-horned Oryx (which are sadly extinct in the wild) and a host of important native animal births.

Well done, Monarto Zoo!

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