April the giraffe had Facebook and YouTube users gripped as they watched for days on end in anticipation of the birth of her calf.
Live feeds from multiple media outlets popped up on social media as April wandered around her pen at the Animal Adventure Park zoo in upstate New York.
April finally gave birth to her baby early in April in front of a YouTube audience of around 1.2million and Facebook Live audience of nearly 750,000 on the park’s page, but until now he was just known as “new calf” or “baby boy”.
Staff at Animal Adventure Park held a contest to name April’s baby and a moniker has now been decided on - Tajiri, or Taj for short.
Tajiri is a Swahili word and it means “hope”.
Announcing the news on April’s Twitter page today, a zoo staff member wrote: “We have our name! Tajiri the baby Giraffe. Tajiri is Swahili for HOPE. WE will call him ‘Taj’.”
During a Facebook life broadcast, Alyssa Swilley, a giraffe keeper at the zoo, said: “It is a hope for giraffes. We have been able to give giraffes a voice… and given the species a hope.”
His keepers will now help Tajiri to be able to fully eat on his own and, once he finishes nursing, he will be weaned from April which could take between six and 10 months and 14 or 15 months.
Tajiri will then be moved from the zoo to another location.
Money raised from the naming contest and online views of the lead-up to the birth, and the birth itself, is being divided between giraffe conservation in the wild and giraffe care at Animal Adventure Park.
A donation has also been made to the park’s Ava’s Little Heroes yearly fundraiser.
Are you a fan of April’s baby’s name? Let us know on Facebook and Twitter.
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