Fota look for name for newest baby giraffe
What to call a baby giraffe born in Cork's Fota Wildlife Park?
The two-week-old female calf is already five feet tall but has yet to be named.
She was born on September 21 to mother Sapphire who carried her for 15 months and like all giraffe mothers gave birth to her baby whilst standing.
This meant that the first experience for the calf was a six-foot drop to the ground.
Fota is looking for an Irish name for the youngster, along with established traidition - the park is already home to Clodagh, Cuileann, Eadaoin and Blaithin. All suggestions can be submitted through their website.
The baby is the 64th giraffe born in Fota Wildlife Park since the park started breeding them in the early 1980s.
Lead warden at Fota Wildlife Park Aidan Rafferty said: "We are delighted with her as she has been really active and seems very happy with the rest of the herd since she went out in the Savannah last weekend."
The calf joins six other females including Sapphire and four males including her father Walder in the park's African savannah which is also home to zebra, ostrich and scimitar horned oryx.
The new calf is the youngest of the herd of 12 Rothschild giraffe at Fota Wildlife Park, which are one of nine races of giraffe found in Africa.
The Rothschild giraffe is taller than any other sub species thus making it the tallest land animal in the world with a male reaching a height of 5.9m.
