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Germany: Baby giraffe born in Karlsruhe Zoo

Saim Dušan Inayatullah
September 15, 2024

Giraffe Wahia has given birth for the first time in nine years after a 15-month pregnancy, according to officials in Germany's Karlsruhe Zoo. The baby, like her mother, belongs to an endangered giraffe subspecies.

https://p.dw.com/p/4keFZ
Close-up view of giraffe baby's head and neck with mother's torso visible in the background at Karlsruhe Zoo
A baby reticulated giraffe has been born in the Karlsruhe Zoo in southwestern GermanyImage: Timo Deible/Zoo Karlsruhe/dpa/picture alliance

A baby giraffe was born on Sunday in the Karlsruhe Zoo in Germany's southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, the zoo said.

This is the first time the giraffe Wahia has given birth in at least nine years, according to the zoo. She has given birth three times in total.

Giraffe caresses young with her head at Karlsruhe zoo
Giraffe pregnancies typically last around 15 monthsImage: Timo Deible/Zoo Karlsruhe/dpa/picture alliance

What else do we know about the baby giraffe?

Wahia delivered the baby after 15 months of pregnancy.

A zoo spokesperson said that it was still unclear if the baby was male or female.

Wahia and two other female giraffes had been transferred to the Opel Zoo in Kronberg im Taunus in the western state of Hesse to allow for renovations in Karslruhe's African savannah enclosure.

While in Kronberg, the three females spent two months with the bull Timon.

One giraffe stayed in the Kronberg zoo, while Wahia and another female were taken back to Karlsruhe in summer of 2023.

This is not the first giraffe birth in Germany this year — in June, a Rothschild giraffe was born in Berlin's Tierpark zoo.

The world's giraffes are in danger!

Baby belongs to endangered subspecies

The reticulated giraffe subspecies that Wahia and her young belong to is classified as "endangered," according to the Red List of the Switzerland-based International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The subspecies is native to parts of Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia. The IUCN said habitat loss, deterioration in habitat quality and poaching threaten the animal's survival.

The Stuttgarter Zeitung newspaper cited the Karlsruhe Zoo as saying that there are only around 10,000 members of the subspecies in the world. The zoo participates in the European conservation breeding program of the EAZA association of zoos.

This article was written in part using material from the DPA news agency.

Edited by: Darko Janjevic