”Lanky boy” arrives in Emmen as giraffe gives birth to 72kg calf

Wildlands zoo in Emmen has a new attraction after a baby giraffe was born in the early hours of Thursday.

The young male giraffe was spotted on security cameras as it appeared in the enclosure at around 5am. Shortly afterwards he took his first steps under the watchful eye of the rest of the herd.

The calf has been named Kenyi, which literally means “son after three daughters”. Zoo staff said he was healthy and drinking well and described him as a “lanky boy”, weighing in at 72kg (159lbs).

He is the fourth calf and the first male for mother Ayana, but the first for his father, Nuka, who was brought to Wildlands two years ago, and brings the size of Emmen’s giraffe herd to nine.

Visitors to the zoo will be able to view the young giraffe from Momma’s Restaurant once he has spent his first few days behind the scenes in the enclosure.

The birth of Kenyi is a success for the zoo’s ambitions to cultivate a stable population of Northern giraffes in captivity. The species once roamed freely across Africa, but its numbers in the wild have dwindled to around 7,000.

In the last decade giraffe numbers have increased by 20%, but they are still classed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s red list.