Rare Birth of Twin Giraffe in Kenyan National Park Wows the World

The Kenyan wildlife minister announced recently that rare twins had been born to a Maasai giraffe in Nairobi's national park.

The tallest species in the world was listed as "vulnerable to extinction" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's 2016 Red List of Threatened wildlife, Mail Online reported.

According to Najib Balala, this is an "extremely rare occurrence." Essentially, only approximately 117,000 giraffes remain in the wild, a report from the Giraffe Conservation Foundation specified.

It also said that the numbers of the gentle long-necked giants in Africa have descended by 30 percent over the past three decades, describing it as a "silent extinction."

Giraffe Subspecies

Kenya is considered a home to three giraffe subspecies: the Maasai, the reticulated, and the Rothschild, a related Phys.org report said.

The Nairobi National Park lies only seven kilometers or four miles from the heart of the Kenyan capital and is a tourist magnet for its wildlife which includes leopards, lions, buffalos, and rhinos, grazing against a backdrop of faraway skyscrapers,

At 15 months, regardless of their subspecies, giraffes have one of the longest gestation periods for all mammals. They're giving birth standing up, meaning their calves drop just below two meters or six feet to the ground.

The startling introduction to life is getting the giraffes up and running around in less than one hour. Meanwhile, a newborn calf is larger than the average adult human.

Only a few twin births have been recorded worldwide, with more often than not, not surviving. In the wild, giraffes can survive up to 25 years, whereas in captivity, they can live over 35 years.

Previous Giraffe Twin Birth

Although twin births are rare, this is not the first time such an event has occurred. In 2015, a report on the Little Things website specified that in 2013, Gabriella, a 22-year-old pregnant giraffe, stunned the entire staff at the Natural Bridge Zoo in Virginia.

The birth was a complete success, and everything went as planned, except that the new mother giraffe was in for a big surprise.

Gabriella delivered birth to rare twin giraffes, a male and a female. According to Karl Mogensen, Zoo Owner and Director, he saw one baby, then turned the opposite way and saw another one, and he could not believe it.

Karl explained they were not expecting Gabriella to give birth to one baby, let alone two, since 22 years of age is quite old for a giraffe.

Rare Occurrence

Twins are very rare for giraffes. Specifically, one in 218,000 and just a few zoos worldwide have them. Even previously reported, Gabriella didn't know twins were coming. She did not have adequate milk to feed both twins.

The staff rapidly shifted the twins to bottle feeding, and they grew up tall and healthy. The female baby weighed approximately 80 pounds while the male weighed 100 pounds.

As newborns, the twins stood around six feet tall. Typically, giraffes give birth standing up, as earlier mentioned. More so, calves can stand up and run within one hour from birth.

Related information about giraffes in Kenya is shown on Richard Arkley's YouTube video below:

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