Today, Walt Disney World welcomed the newest member of the Animal Kingdom Family! A newborn Masai giraffe calf arrived today around 2 p.m. on the Kilimanjaro Safari Savanna.
Mom, Mara, gave birth to the newest member to the park who stands at about 6 feet tall.
It will nurse for about a year, and then, as a herbivore, it will move to the lush vegetation available throughout the savanna. When full grown, it will use it’s 18-inch tongue to strip leaves off thorny branches from the tops and sides of trees to consume up to 75 pounds of food a day. That’s a tall order!
The Masai giraffe is a vulnerable species found primarily in Kenya and Tanzania. There are believed to be roughly 32,000 Masai giraffes left in the wild, and their population continues to decline because of poaching and habitat loss.
The calf’s gender has not been determined yet, but the mother and offspring are already within view of Animal Kingdom guests.
Two giraffe calves were born at Disney World last year. Lilly gave birth to Aella in July, and Amira was born to mom Kenya in October