The recent birth of a male giraffe calf has left spirits high at the National Zoo and Aquarium with staff eager to present him to the Canberra community.
The calf has been named Themba, which is a South African name meaning faith, and members of the public will be able to see him growing up at the zoo.
Themba was born to mum Mzungu and dad Shaba and also has some older siblings named Kebibi, Nzuri and Khamisi.
Born only a month ago, Themba is already growing and exploring the zoo's savannah under the strict supervision of his family members.
Zoo team leader Amanda Hadley said it was "really exciting" to hold a celebration of Themba, which couldn't have come at a better time as Tuesday June 21 was World Giraffe Day.
"It's really important to celebrate giraffes, you know there's a lot of misconception about how they're doing out in the wild and it's a good opportunity to just educate people on that," she said.
In the last 30 years, giraffe numbers have been depleted by 40 per cent which has "been classed as a silent extinction" due to the lack of awareness.
As the giraffe is the tallest living land mammal, with the ability to grow in excess of five metres, it's appropriate that World Giraffe Day falls on June 21 as it is the longest day of the year.
"It's our winter solstice ... but you know, we still celebrate it as though it would be for what it's intended for," Ms Hadley said.
While Themba appears quite large at one-month-old, it's often difficult to tell if a giraffe is pregnant, however Ms Hadley said there were "a few telltale signs".
"When giraffes are breeding the males become quite rough and aggressive and once a female falls pregnant he eases right off," she said.
Keepers also created "a training process" for mother Mzungu, when every morning "we bring her into the crusher, we give her favourite food and we touch on the belly".
"When the baby starts to get to a certain size, they actually start responding to us. Every time we touch them, they move around in the belly and we can kind of see that," Ms Hadley said.
As Themba gets older, Ms Hadley and other keepers will begin to discover his personality compared to other members of his family.
"Out of all the calves I've been able to work with he's very, very shy. He's not really a people person but that's not to say that he won't shine through with his personality as he's a little bit older," she said.
"He's pretty smart, like he's started to try foods and mouth on foods from day two which normally we don't see for a few weeks so he's really moving along quickly with these milestones."
We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.
