A baby giraffe was just born at this SC zoo. Here’s how you can see it now
Greenville Zoo’s Autumn, the giraffe, gave birth Sunday, her seventh calf since she arrived in South Carolina in 2007 from Boston’s Franklin Park Zoo.
A male calf was stillborn in 2014, but the others have contributed to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums breeding program at various zoos around the country.
Greenville Zoo officials had not announced weight, height or gender for the newborn Monday morning. It was born at 1:10 p.m. Sunday.
The public can see the mama and baby on the Zoo’s Giraffe Cam.
Zoo officials could not be reached for comment Monday. They have not announced how the calf will be named. Last time, the zoo foundation held a fundraising competition, which received some criticism due to the starting bid of $1,500.
The name Providence was chosen by Platt and Ashley Moore, who donated $14,200, Greenville Zoo Foundation said.
Autumn is 17 years old. Zoo officials have previously said she will be bred until she’s 17 or 18. She has had a calf every year and a half since she became old enough to breed.
Autumn came to the Greenville Zoo at about a year old when a giraffe enclosure was built. Her first partner was Walter, who came from the San Diego Zoo as part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Species Survival Plan, which matches zoo animals around the country.
Masai giraffes are endangered in the wild.
Autumn and Walter had three calves over four years, including Roho, the one who was stillborn.
Their first was Kiko in 2012 and then Tatu in 2016.
Kiko has fathered two calves with Mstari, a 6-year-old Masai giraffe at the Toronto Zoo. He has been at the Toronto Zoo since 2015.
Tatu was transferred to the Lehigh Valley Zoo in 2017 to replace another Masai giraffe who was killed six months earlier by his father, according to The Morning Call newspaper in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Meanwhile, Walter was sent to the Turtle Back Zoo in Essex County, N.J., in 2016, where he died in 2017 while under anesthesia during a dental procedure.
That brought Miles to Greenville from the Houston Zoo as a partner for Autumn in 2016.
In 2018, Autumn gave birth to Kiden, her only female offspring, who was sent to Oregon Zoo in Portland and then the Fresno Chaffee Zoo in California.
Kellan, born in 2019, is at the Ellen Trout Zoo in Lufkin, Texas.
Providence was born in 2021. She was sent to Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island, last November.
Amy Roberts, deputy director of animal programs at the Providence Zoo said in a news release, Providence is “a brave, bold, sassy little girl. She came right up to us on her first day to eat her grain from a bucket. She wants to play with our other female giraffe, but they are still getting to know each other. “
Giraffes have a 15-month gestation period, and can live as long as 30 years in captivity. Babies stand up within an hour or two after being born.
