While The World Watched April, This Giraffe Gave Birth

Everyone knows about April the Giraffe at the New York Zoo Animal Adventure Park. She gave birth over a hugely public livestream to the delight of hundreds of thousands of viewers. But there was another giraffe who gave birth before April, albeit to significantly less fanfare. That would be Aliki, at the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee.

Aliki gave birth to Bogey on Monday, April 3 while on exhibit. Talk about a public way to bring your infant into the world! The calf was named in honor of long-time Memphis zookeeper Steve Bogardy, who recently passed away.

But why did April get all the fanfare and Aliki none? Well, the Adventure Park planned early. They launched a live video feed of pregnant April back in February, and people quickly started watching. Everyone wanted to get a glimpse of a newborn giraffe—because when else are you going to see that happen?

Over the past few months since the cam’s launch, April has gotten her own apparel line and a GoFundMe page that has raised more than three times its goal of $50,000 to donate to the Adventure Park.

“The funds generated will be used to offset their annual care at our facility,” the GoFundMe post says. “Anything generated, above and beyond the goal, will be dedicated to improvements of the new Giraffe Encounter Deck, Shade Stations in the exhibit, Energy Efficient upgrades to their barn, and the installation of a permanent Giraffe Cam at Animal Adventure.”

Meanwhile, Aliki and Bogey are settling in at their Memphis home. Aliki, who is a first-time mother, wasn’t providing quite enough maternal support to the newborn calf, so zoo caretakers are helping hand-rear the infant. This isn’t too unusual, the caretakers say, since Aliki has no experience with child rearing.

“Our staff is hard at work, hand-raising our new little guy,” Matt Thompson, Director of Animal Programs said on the Memphis Zoo website. “Our team has worked tirelessly around the clock to give him the best care available, and he’s already made great strides. We hope to have him on exhibit in the coming weeks.”

So if you’re near Memphis or New York, you may want to head to one of these zoos to see an adorable baby giraffe.