April's evening keeper check was cut short, but her labor? Not so fast.
Animal Adventure Park, the zoo live streaming the giraffe's world-famous pregnancy said April cut the check short in its latest Facebook update Thursday night.
"Her behavior is very off from normal demeanor," the zoo said. "This is to be expected. Mammary development photos were not captured, but udders reported as full. It should not be much longer."
With the pregnant giraffe's labor really close, the zoo said it is preparing to launch an official text system that will be available for subscription later Friday.
"Subscribing will get you a labor alert text, but also exclusive texts, info, photo links, and calf updates over the coming months," the latest zoo update said. "Much of the content will be exclusive to the text alert community."
It won't be free, however, a portion of the fee will will get kicked back to the Giraffe Conservation Foundation for wild conservation of giraffes, according to the zoo.
"When that is available - we will post on all social media platforms and our websites," the zoo said.
The zoo continues to tell everyone to continue to watch the live stream. It won't be long now. Seriously.
"We are in the home stretch," Animal Adventure Park said.
Watch the live stream below.
At around 5:30 Friday morning, approximately 90,000 curious onlookers saw zoo keepers enter April's pen sweeping up extra dirt and and cleaning up in what appeared to be a preparation stage.
April's doctor said Thursday that he launched a new operation to speed her labor up. Only time will tell if "Operation Taco Induction" actually worked. One thing is for sure, we are close.
"We are seeing almost all the signs of birth happening within the coming days," Dr. Tim reported.
When April goes into labor, the baby's front hoofs will be the first to come out, followed by the snout, the zoo says.
Mom will naturally raise the calf on her own, and weaning could take between six to 10 months, maybe even longer -- the zoo says it won't rush the process. Once weaning is over, the baby giraffe will move on to another facility to start a breeding program there.
"We cannot retain offspring, as it would lead to incestuous mating and undermine the genetics of the program and species," the zoo says.
This is 15-year-old April's fourth calf. It'll be the first for her mate Oliver. He won't take any part in rearing the calf, though. Male giraffes, called bulls, really only care about two things, the zoo says: "fighting and the unmentionable."
"He is a bull -- and a bull is a bull is a bull!" the zoo says.
April's pregnancy was catapulted into global headlines late last month after YouTube briefly yanked the zoo's stream following complaints by animal activists that it violated the site's policies concerning "nudity and sexual content." Thousands upon thousands of commenters voiced their frustration on Facebook and YouTube, and the stream was restored within an hour or so.
Jordan Patch, owner of the Animal Adventure Park, says the natural curiosity surrounding giraffes and their birthing process has been a huge factor in drawing crowds.
"I think the fact that she's a giraffe and she's a neat species that people are interested in, that's fostered a lot of the attention," he said. "The fact that you're gonna get to witness the miracle of birth from an animal that you really don't get to see give birth — that's neat."
He added that April's pregnancy is not just live entertainment, but a teachable moment and source for education. This is the zoo's first giraffe calf.
Giraffe pregnancies last up to 15 months. Labor lasts anywhere from a few hours to a few days. The calf, which will be the first born at Animal Adventure Park, will be about 150 pounds and 6 feet tall at birth and up and walking in about an hour.
The zoo said it will hold an online competition to name the baby giraffe once it's born.
Photo Credit: Animal Adventure Park YouTube
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