Colorado Zoo Welcomes a New Baby Giraffe

By Shawn Patrick on October 19, 2022

Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images

Remember all the hype around April the giraffe having a baby a few years back? Well, people don’t get that excited about baby giraffes anymore, but they are still pretty darn cute. A new baby was welcomed at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs today, and man is it adorable!

According to a post on the Zoo’s Facebook page;

Bailey, a 10-year-old reticulated giraffe at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, welcomed a calf to the herd today at 10:49 a.m. MT. Bailey and the baby are doing well and will be visible from a short distance to guests in the giraffe barn tomorrow, as long as mom and calf continue to appear healthy and calm. The giraffe barn will be a quiet zone for guests and staff, and if mom and baby show any signs of discomfort, the barn will be closed.

Bailey welcomed her second calf – and second daughter – to the world just one hour and 32 minutes after a group of lucky guests saw Bailey’s water break in the giraffe yard outside. The calf appears to be healthy, having met milestones its care team wants to see, like taking its first steps and nursing within the first two hours after it was born.

The calf made several attempts to stand on its own, which is normal for giraffe calves as they get the hang of their long legs. After a few stumbles, the calf maneuvered itself against a fence where it was struggling to get footing. The giraffe care team asked Bailey to move into the stall next to her baby, which she did willingly. The care team then entered the stall with the calf, picked up the calf, and moved her into the center of the stall where she managed to stay on her feet and was quickly rejoined by mom.

Because her care team needed to intervene for just a moment, they were able to confirm the calf is female. We don’t have an exact height or weight on the baby, but she appears to be a normal weight and height for a calf – close to six feet tall and around 125 pounds. Following Cheyenne Mountain Zoo tradition, the calf will not be named until she is at least 30 days old.

The calf is the seventeenth member of Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s reticulated giraffe herd. The calf is the seventh to be sired by dad, Khalid (pronounced cull-EED). Bailey was born at Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, in Omaha, Neb., in March 2012 and moved to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo on a breeding recommendation in Sept. 2016. CMZoo’s breeding program began in 1954 and has welcomed more than 200 calves since its inception.

The giraffe building will be closed the rest of today to allow mom and baby some quiet time to bond and nurse. The rest of the CMZoo herd will be available for viewing and feeding in the outside yard from elevated platforms, where guests can get eye-to-eye with and feed lettuce to the herd.