Is anyone else checking in on the live stream camera feed of the giraffe waiting to see if she has given birth to her baby yet? Quin and I have been following it and checking in periodically to see how mama giraffe is doing. With Quin wanting to be a veterinarian, she is fascinated by the idea of maybe getting to see the giraffe give birth.
We have been watching at the feed from this link: Giraffe Cam There are some pictures at the top and the feed is in the middle of the page with some facts about giraffes under the video box.
I have gotten far more invested in this silly mama giraffe and waiting for her to have the baby than I expected I would. She is really a beautiful creature and I can't wait to see her baby.
Still no baby giraffe, but mama was showing signs that it might be getting close. Walking around and pacing faster than normal and you could see the discomfort when the baby kicked and wiggled. Quin and I have been watching this stream with interest and Russ is amused at how invested we've gotten into waiting for her to have the baby.
Still watching and waiting for the baby giraffe. Their live feed "giraffe cam" went down for a bit this evening and Quin just about lost it. She was convinced that the giraffe, April, was going to have the baby right then while the feed was down. It seems to have possibly been weather related, though no one is sure just yet what happened, but the feed came back up after about 20 minutes or so and Quin was very relieved that she didn't miss the baby being born.
I've been watching and waiting too. From what information I've learned about giraffe's. they tend to have their babies in the wee hours of the morning (3 ish) when in captivity, so we may all have to settle for a playback.
My cousin was the one who introduced me to the giraffe cam and Quin and I have been hooked on the excitement of it ever since. We usually have it running somewhere in the background and will check as we can. Quin loves the whole idea of this, with wanting to be a vet she sees it as a learning opportunity. I just love baby animals.
Poor mama giraffe, though. She is getting closer and closer and not appreciating the daily check ups. Today when the vet came in for her daily check, she didn't want her belly touched and decided to cut their visit short by reaching her front leg out and kicking him. Dr. Tim, the vet, decided that was a good time to get out. Giraffes are able to kill other animals just by kicking them with their front legs, so I don't blame him for getting out of there. Of course, being a mom, I also understand not wanting to be touched because you are so uncomfortable and just want it all to be over.
She did look like it might be starting, but then nothing. Poor April. She looks so uncomfortable. I love checking the Animal Adventure Park's page on FB for their updates and videos. They did a video this morning and introduced Nash, their Lynx who almost was acting like a house cat. I did catch the vet check this afternoon and Dr. Tim got in checked her belly and got the heck out fast. I think he might have been a bit hesitant to spend too much time after getting kicked yesterday.
The animal adventure park had their live feed go down again today for about 20 minutes or so and the vet came in for the afternoon check while it was down, but in the evening update said that April is looking good and doing well. He got a really cute picture that they put up on the Facebook page. Caretaker zoologist, Allysa, was back today for the daily feedings and checkups, too. She always puts on a bit of a show with giving the treats and kisses and belly rubs. They seem to have a very sweet bond and it is fun to watch.
The two other links that the Animal Adventure Park have to get the live feeds are: April the Giraffe and Giraffemoji.com. The link from my first post doesn't take me to a live video anymore. After one of the outages the link changed and so I located the animal park's April website to get to their Youtube page directly instead of through an article that may or may not be updated.
Still no baby, but the vet said that all of the tail lifting indicates pressure and not just having to go to the bathroom kind of pressure. They can't definitively declare active labor until they actually see hooves, though. Giraffes hide their labor as a defense from predators, so they might not be able to tell if it is real labor, or if she is in labor at all, until she is further along into it.
They have posted some very cute pictures of April both with trainer, Allysa, as well as some from the vet, Dr. Tim, of close ups of her checking out their phone cameras.
The vets can say it isn't active labor until they see hooves if they want to, but that is considered stage three labor in the human species. I watch her belly tighten, and while I have no expertise to base my conclusion on-other than having been there several times myself- I think she's been in stage 1 for the last 2 1/2 days.
Could be pretty soon now! This is the newest update from this evening that Animal Adventure Park posted:
3/13 Evening Update
Are you on the edge of your seat?
Afternoon and evening keeper and vet checks continue to indicate significant changes in April. Her back end has become significantly larger and relaxed, motion and pulsing in this area has been noted, and discharge has been observed. Ladies and gentlemen - we are close. We are still not confirming active labor, but will state all physical signs are headed in the right direction.
The youtube feed will remain online through the process, Facebook LIVE will also provide updates. A professional crew will be onsite to document the birth also.
Again, be patient, she has fooled us before. We can simply suggest staying tuned into the feed, subscribing to the youtube channel, and also our FB notifications. We will do everything in our power to keep you posted.
Staff will remain onsite this evening to stay with April and also begin mitigating snow levels as they begin to pile early tomorrow morning. Stay safe, stay warm, and bring your animals inside!
There was so much activity on their youtube feed today. Keepers going in to check as well as the vet a number of times and April acting different. They think it could be close to time!
Still no baby. The park's evening update tonight said that a handful of staff will be staying on site tonight to watch and be ready, just in case, and that there haven't been too many changes, she is still very close to being ready to go at any time. They are in upstate New York and are getting hit really hard by the snowstorm/blizzard.
I thought for sure that she was going into labor last night. There were some very visible contractions and visible pushing with a few other signs of labor, and she was on the more agitated side at times, too. So, I think that the staff would like her to hold off for another day or two until the storm is over and they can dig out a bit, but nature will do as it does.
We are still watching April the giraffe and she still hasn't had her baby yet. Today I happened to catch the screen at the right moment (I usually leave the feed running in the background on my monitor while I do stuff around the house) and saw the enclosure door start to open. I thought that maybe one of the keepers was coming in, but it wasn't the normal time that the keepers or the vet come check or feed the giraffes. I waited and watched, but no one came in to the pen. Then I look a bit more closely and see April and her mate, Oliver, pushing the enclosure door back and forth, open and closed, with their noses and playing with it. The door has a secondary safety latch that keeps it from being able to open all the way, so when April got curious and decided to explore, she could only get her head, neck, and half a shoulder out, but couldn't open the door enough to go further. It was very cute watching them play with the door, just swinging it back and forth entertaining each other.
It turns out that April was playing with the latch on the door with her mouth and popped it open. Out of curiosity to see what it was. Not actually an attempt to enact The Great Giraffe Escape.
It looks like some serious activity may be happening with April. I planned to do a bit of grocery shopping today, but decided to stay home and watch Giraffe labor instead!
Nugget, LOL! That sounds like it was a good plan. Still no baby, but she was so active today, I also thought for sure that she was going into labor and that we'd have a calf by tonight. She spent a lot of time today with her tail up and pushing and the Animal Adventure Park evening update noted her different behavior, but also noted that there was no discharge or milk, so looks like it is close, but they can't say with any certainty a definitive day and time to be watching.