The new baby giraffe
Photo: Tibor Yagar
Ramat Gan Safari welcomes baby giraffe
Dikla the giraffe gave birth to 1.9-meters-tall (about 6'3) male calf; but since she failed to nurse him, safari caretakers had to bottle feed him with special milk, not leaving his side for two days; 'We were going to do whatever it takes for him to survive.'
Congratulations to Dikla, a giraffe at the Ramat Gan Safari, who gave birth to a 1.9-meters-tall (about 6'3) male calf during the weekend.
After the birth, safari caretakers noticed Dikla was not nursing her calf.
Safari veterinarian Dr. Igal Horowitz injected Dikla with a sedative as well as hormones meant to arouse maternal behavior—to no avail.
The new baby giraffe (Photo: Tibor Yagar)
The safari caretakers, who were worried the calf wasn't getting the nutrition he needed in its first hours of life contacted the Agricultural Research Organization, which provided them with five liters of colostrum—milk produced by the mammary glands of mammals in late pregnancy and after birth, which helps strengthen the calf's immune system—from a cow.
The caretakers fed the baby giraffe using a bottle and then put him on regular milk starting his second day of life.
"During the first two days, we hardly left him. It was obvious we were going to do whatever it takes for him to survive," said Itzik Franco, the head of the Elephants and Giraffes Department at the safari.
About two weeks ago, the safari welcomed another baby—Topak, the white rhino.
