While the world’s attention was glued to a live stream of a pregnant giraffe in New York, another miracle was happening away from prying eyes closer to home.
"We did beat April to the punch, with baby Dobby so we're excited about that," said Tiffany Grunert with the Denver Zoo.
Dobby, a male giraffe, was born at 3 a.m. Tuesday.
"She was on birth control, so it was not a planned baby, but we welcome him all the same," said Grunert
His mom, Kipele, was able to give birth in privacy -- sans viral live stream. The zoo says they didn’t know until recently that Kipele was pregnant.
"It does happen on occasion, birth control fails, just like with humans, but again for us, it is a very exciting surprise," said Grunert.
Dobby was born standing at 5 feet tall and weighing 73 pounds – both small figures for a newborn giraffe. While he wasn’t initially nursing for the first few hours of his life, thanks to the care of zoo staff, he now is.
“We are feeling good about his health,” Brian Aucone, the Denver Zoo senior vice president for Animal Care and Conservation, said in a news release.
You can’t see Dobby or Kipele quite yet.
"Right now he’s behind the scenes with mom, bonding with her, and if things continue to go well, he’ll be out soon, so we’ll make another announcement," said Grunert. "So people here in Denver who are part of this giraffe craze can see a new baby in real life here pretty soon."
If you’ve been to the Denver Zoo, you’ve probably seen Kipele.
She was born at the zoo in 1993, and is the oldest of the giraffes. Dikembe, Dobby’s father, was born at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs in 1993, and has been at the Denver Zoo since 1996.
Dobby is the first giraffe born at the Denver Zoo since 2010. During the first two years of his life, he’ll grow to be almost 12 feet tall – and could grow to 17 feet!
Welcome to the world, Dobby! And congratulations, Kipele!
