A new ‘little leggy boy’ at the Dallas Zoo: Giraffe born earlier this month, officials say

A new lanky friend could soon be stretching out his neck to greet visitors at the Dallas Zoo.

In an Instagram post Monday, zoo officials announced a male giraffe was born earlier this month.

“Meet the newest addition to our giraffe herd — a little leggy boy born on April 1 to proud parents Katie and Tebogo,” the post stated.

Tina Cloutier Barbour, associate vice president of animal care and welfare at the Dallas Zoo, said the calf was born in the late afternoon to evening hours, when staff members were about to go home.

There were no complications related to the birth, but the yet-to-be-named calf had trouble nursing, Cloutier Barbour said.

“This little guy could not quite figure it out, and what that meant was 24-hour monitoring until were confident that he did understand how to nurse, and that he was really doing well,” Cloutier Barbour said. “It also meant that we had to double check we had access to all of the necessary equipment we might need if we had to intervene.”

About 2 a.m., Cloutier Barbour said she got a message from her staff that the calf had figured it out. More than two weeks later, the boy is healthy. As of Monday, he was 5′5, and weighed 138 pounds, according to zoo officials. He has already mingled with some of the other giraffes at the zoo, including his big sister Nea.

“He’s been remarkably good about following mom wherever she goes, which we really appreciate because that’s something really important for babies of any species. He’s really even-keeled; he’s really not easily rattled. He seems inquisitive and has a very calm demeanor,” Cloutier Barbour said.

Multiple giraffes at the Dallas Zoo have died in the last several years. Most recently, Ferrell, a 15-year-old male, had to be euthanized after he fell and injured his jaw.

The zoo has made some changes in recent years to make its giraffe enclosure safer, Cloutier Barbour said. In 2021, staff and giraffe experts from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums evaluated the Giants of the Savanna exhibit. The zoo has added substrate material in parts of the habitat that showed erosion and also installed cameras around the exhibit for monitoring animal interactions and behavior.

“We had a very thorough review from experts around the country when we did experience some of those really unfortunate losses, and what we learned from that was that they were not things we could have prevented, unfortunately,” she said. “They were just really terrible accidents.”

It’s unclear when the new calf will be ready to be introduced to the public, but it could be as soon as the next few weeks, Cloutier Barbour said. Zoo staff have narrowed down the calf’s name to three choices. Although she declined to share what the choices were, she said all of them are related to his being born on April Fool’s.

“Stay tuned,” she said.