My report on giraffes

Monday night, October 22^nd, I was trying to fall asleep in my bed when my mom came and got me up.  She told me that a baby giraffe was about to be born on a live camera!  It was really cool to see!  You could see the leg of the baby giraffe.  After a few minutes Autumn’s water broke (Autumn is the baby’s mom) then you could see two legs.  About ten minutes later her baby fell to the ground.  It took the baby about 45 minutes to an hour for it to stand up.  It was really funny because it kept face planting because its legs were wobbly!  After a while the baby got pretty good at walking.  I also got to see it feed on its mother’s milk!  The baby giraffe was a lot of fun to watch.  I also got to see its dad Walter who was in the pen next to Autumn and the baby!

A couple days after the baby giraffe was born I found out it was a boy.   His name is Kiko which means Autumn’s child in Swahili.  Kiko weighed 120 lb when he was born and was 5 feet 8 inches tall.  When Kiko is an adult he could weigh 2,600 lb and be as tall as 16 ft!   I found out that Walter is 7 years old and Autumn is 6 years old.  Kiko and his family are Masai giraffes.  The Masai giraffes scientific name is Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi.

I started reading a few books to get more information about giraffes. Here are the facts that I learned:

Giraffes are mammals. They are warm blooded so their body always stays the same temperature.   The female carries the baby 14-15 months.   A newborn calf is the size of a tall person and with its mothers milk grows fast.  It drinks its mother’s milk for 9-12 months and it can start eating plants at four months of age.  Young Giraffes turn into adults within 4 to 7 years.  Giraffes live in small parts of Africa they spend their time in open grasslands or areas with few trees.  Giraffes spend little time by water holes because when they kneel to drink water predators can easily attack because it is hard for the giraffe to stand up quickly.  A giraffe has a long neck that can be over six feet long.  They have the same number of neck bones (7 bones) as humans, but they are a lot bigger.  They  also have big horns at the top of their heads that are made of bone. Giraffes are herbivores (plant-eaters).  Sometimes they chew on bones to get minerals. They eat twigs and leaves.  Giraffes like the buds of the acacia tree best.