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Asali and Artemis announce the birth of their newest son!

Standing at 6 feet, 4 inches and weighing 158 pounds, "LEWIS" has made his entry to the world after a 15-month pregnancy. He's a perfect example of a Masai giraffe!

Because Asali is unable to nurse her calves, Lewis is now living and thriving happily in the nursery yard at the zoo. Keeper staff is well-experienced in raising giraffe calves and he's expected to do well.

His formal press/tv introduction will happen on Thursday. I saw him today and promptly lost my heart. :-4 :-4 :-4 You should see him trying to learn what those long legs are for!

Oh how sweet! Giraffes are just such beautiful creatures! :-4

What a fantastic job you have Lulu! :-6

Lulu2 wrote: Asali and Artemis announce the birth of their newest son!



Standing at 6 feet, 4 inches and weighing 158 pounds, "LEWIS" has made his entry to the world after a 15-month pregnancy. He's a perfect example of a Masai giraffe!



Because Asali is unable to nurse her calves, Lewis is now living and thriving happily in the nursery yard at the zoo. Keeper staff is well-experienced in raising giraffe calves and he's expected to do well.



His formal press/tv introduction will happen on Thursday. I saw him today and promptly lost my heart. :-4 :-4 :-4 You should see him trying to learn what those long legs are for!


That is just too precious.

Do you work at a zoo?

I'll bet he's a cutie.

Yes, Creme...I do work at a zoo, and most of the time, it's a great thing. Rapunzel, I loved that photo! The mother is "grooming" the baby's horns, which fold down during birth. (A nicety ANY mom could appreciate!) Giraffes have very flexible lips (so they can strip acacia leaves around the thorns.) I was watching Lewis today as he tested those lips on fence posts, a rock wall, his keeper...he's like all kids...everything goes into the mouth.

Zapata...he IS a cutie! Wanna' come see him?

I'm not very adept at these things, but I'll see if I know anyone who took photos. Maybe I can get them to send me a few and I can forward them here. (Sorry...I'm PRIMITIVE in my 'net capabilities.)

I love Giraffes they are just an amazing creature. I saw a special on KPBS about this family in Africa that has a habitate for Giraffes. There house is designed for them to come right up to the windows and stick their heads in at any time and visit.. just so COOL..

Carla, I've BEEN to that house...Giraffe Manor, outside Nairobi. You can stay overnight and have breakfast with the giraffes in the morning....it's very pricey and I didn't do that. BUT...you can go next door to the education center and feed giraffes while standing on a platform. That center really exists to help educate Kenyan children about the animals living out in "the bush." Many of them have never seen the area....much like urban children here who've never been to the beach.

Snooze...thanks for the great video. Is there ANYONE who doesn't love a baby?

Lulu2 -- That's beautiful! I liked your explanation of Rapunzel's picture :-6

Rapper -- I am IN LOVE with that photo! There's nothing like a mother and her child, is there? :-4

Snooze -- That youtube birth was unbelievable! Thanks for the link

Cher, you remind me of a wonderful thing which happened to someone I know in Cameroon.

Two selfless, dedicated Americans have spent most of their lives in that country, trying to save the EXTREMELY rare Drill baboon.

http://www.bioko.org/primates/leucophaeus.asp

Drills are so rare and reclusive that it's only been recently that one was photographed in the wild! Imagine that for a moment....they've lived quietly in dense forests of Cameroon and Nigeria for thousands of years. Nobody had ever even photographed one!

BUT...hardwood loggers are building roads through that forest and hunters with automatic weapons follow, killing anything they can to sell as "bush meat." It's a very poor country. Nobody gives a rat's rear about endangered animals.

Peter Jenkins and Liza Gadsby have created a foundation/preserve/rehab facility in Cameroon to do all the things you'd imagine when trying to save a species.

http://members.tripod.com/~KingRhythm/id111.htm (That's an old link, but it has the best photos.)

One day, a local official came out to see what they were doing. Liza says he was JUST what you'd think a politician would be...more interested in the "photo op" than in the animals. He was not interested in trying to help them work with local people to provide jobs, etc, and prevent the need for "bush meat" hunting.

UNTIL--he stood for many minutes watching a female Drill nursing her baby.

When he left the facility that day, he promised to do what he could to help them. He said, "That's not just an animal...it's a mother, with her child."

Lulu2

That is simply awesome :-4

Watching a mother and child together had the *power* to change minds.

That's beautiful. :-6

Here's a link to the photos of our beautiful LEWIS! He's exceptionally handsome, isn't he? Look at those lashes! (That's my friend Nancy in the photo.)

http://homepage.mac.com/greentara/Lewis/index.html

Aw. Me love baby animals....me hug them, squeeze them, love them lots.

This is what happens when you're mom is a big animal person. :-4

Thanks for the kind words...he IS a special baby! Giraffes who're being bottle-fed have to be given colostrum, so they'll pick up some immunities and get a good start.

Then they're fed cow's milk...and lots of it! The challenge for the keepers is that giraffe babies want to feed "UPWARDS," since mom's udder is higher than the baby's head. This is fairly simple at first, but ever more challenging as the baby gains height. Eventually, keepers are scaling ladders and climbing enclosure walls to get that bottle in the "right" place.

Furthermore, some babies seem disinclined to take a bottle from a human. So, they need to be coaxed by appealing to some deeply-rooted instinct. Our Kelley Greene (who's considered an expert in these matters) HAS been known to stand on a ladder with a mop on her head, in an attempt to "look" like a giraffe.

It works. I kid you not!

I want to make a collage out of his cute pictures.

There'll be more, now that he's out on exhibit in the nursery yard! One of the many reasons baby giraffes have more than their fair share of charm is the way they look like miniature adults!

Did I tell you he's now racing up and down in his yard, chasing the keeper for fun...and he's still got his umbilicus? SOME BABY!

The media came to photograph Lewis yesterday and he charmed everyone by peering intently into camera lenses and licking them! He "made" every news channel at 5, 6 and 11!

Guess I should explain that the little critter on the bottom of page 5 is Violet, a baby Speke's gazelle. They are extremely rare animals and we have some of the very few in the country. Violet was born with some problems, but she's a tough little cookie and the keepers think she's going to make it...so they named her.