Louisville Zoo's new baby giraffe improving after wobbly start
A new baby Masai giraffe at the Louisville Zoo is improving after an uncertain beginning, according to zoo officials.
Eleven-year-old giraffe Malaika gave birth Feb. 17 to her third offspring — a 150-pound, 6-foot-2-inch male giraffe who the staff named Bakari, which means hopeful. (Pronounced bah-KAH-ree).
According to a statement from the zoo, zoo staff noticed that the new baby couldn't stand on his own. Thinking a slippery barn floor was to blame, more than a dozen staff members began hauling wheelbarrows and shovels full of sand into the giraffe barn to provide more traction. Unfortunately, that didn't help.
The workers lifted Bakari and helped him to his feet, but the little giraffe's legs were wobbly, and he couldn't stay standing.
That was a big problem because calves need to to stand within 24 hours and nurse from their mother so they can receive essential immunity from mother's first milk (called colostrum).
Since Bakari couldn't stand to nurse, the zoo's veterinary team gave treatments to transfer horse immunoglobulins (or antibodies) into Bakari through an intravenous line. Bakari was also given life-saving fluids through the intravenous line to keep him hydrated while staff tried to get him used to bottle-feeding.
"Without the plasma transfer, he would be more likely to have problems down the road with infections," Louisville Zoo veterinarian Dr. Zoli Gyimesi said in the zoo's statement. "And even with the transfer, he is not out of the woods yet."
While most giraffe calves are up and running in a day, Bakari is still having trouble standing on his own for long periods. The veterinary team continues to conduct tests to try to determine the cause and establish a prognosis.
In the meantime, baby Bakari is being hand-raised. He is the 19th calf born at the zoo.
"While we prefer not to hand-raise animals and let their mothers raise them, sometimes it is inevitable," Louisville Zoo assistant mammal curator Candy McMahan said. "We always hope for the best, but in the end, we do what needs to be done to provide the most excellent care possible for the animal."
There are now four Masai giraffes as the Louisville Zoo — baby Bakari; mother Malaika, an 11 -year-old female; Mariah, a 21-year-old female; and Walker, a 14-year-old male.
According to the zoo, giraffes are the tallest of land mammals and have single births after a gestation period of 14 to 16 months. Mothers give birth while standing and the young fall five to six feet upon delivery. Offspring are usually 6-feet tall at birth.
Posted by Bill Wolfe
