Internet star April the Giraffe is pregnant yet again | Tips & Tricks

Remember April the Giraffe? She’s the famous 16-year-old giraffe who made headlines last year when 1.2 million viewers tuned in to watch the live stream of the birth of her calf Tajiri at the Animal Adventure Park in New York.

April and Tajiri’s coverage was so popular, the YouTube streams tallied more than 232 million total views and 8.5 billion viewing minutes! Talk about being phenomenal. Thankfully, April’s pregnancy, delivery, and rearing of Tajiri was described as “perfect” and everyone who joined in got to witness something truly special.

But do you know what’s even more special? Another April pregnancy! And don’t look now – it sounds like she’s all set for another round.

Here we go again

“The results are in and we are having a baby!” Animal Adventure Park owner Jordan Patch announced on the TODAY show Wednesday morning.

And who’s the lucky dad? Why, it’s Oliver – Tajiri’s dad again, of course – and if all goes well, this will be April’s fifth calf.

Big news from @AprilTheGiraffe… she’s pregnant AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/R56iyQjXJx

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) July 25, 2018

However, no one knows yet if Tajiri’s younger sibling is going to be a boy or a girl – that won’t be revealed until April gives birth, more than a year away from today.

“The average (gestation period) for a giraffe is 15 months,” Patch explained, but he cautioned that, “April likes to go 16, 17, 18 … 19 months.”

The first hints that April is pregnant came late last month when Animal Adventure Park posted a video on its Facebook page. In it, they revealed that they were collecting 30 days’ worth of April’s excretion to have it analyzed at a another zoo’s laboratory for a possible pregnancy.

And it appears that the laboratory results confirmed the good news. “We were elated…We had a good idea and the laboratory confirmed it for us,” Patch said.

Why this matters

Any time a new baby is born, it’s always exciting news. But when it’s a new baby of an animal that’s on the endangered species list, it’s even more incredible.

With fewer than 100,000 giraffes estimated to be in the wild, the growing threats to this beautiful species have gone unnoticed by many. Especially with the poaching of elephants and rhinoceros overshadowing the dramatic downfall of the giraffe’s overall population.

Back in 1985, it was estimated that more than 150,000 giraffes were living in the wild. Now, that number has dropped to around 97,000.

“Every calf counts,” Patch told TODAY. “Giraffe populations have declined by 40 percent in the past 30 years, so every calf born in a captive management program means something.”

Do you want to join in and witness this joyful event yet again as it happens?

Keep checking Komando.com and Kim’s Facebook page and we’ll put up a live stream as soon as it becomes available. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, you can check out Animal Adventure Park’s YouTube live Giraffe cam below to watch April, Oliver & Tajiri in action!

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