LIVE GIRAFFE CAM: April the giraffe gives birth at New York zoo

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Saturday, April 15, 2017
April the giraffe gives birth at New York zoo
After much anticipation, April the giraffe gave birth at a New York zoo on Saturday morning as hundreds of thousands of viewers watched a livestream of the moment.

HARPURSVILLE, N.Y. -- After much anticipation, April the giraffe gave birth at a New York zoo on Saturday morning as hundreds of thousands of viewers watched a livestream of the moment.

The camera feed, watched live by at least 1.2 million people on YouTube, shows the proud mama's pen at Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville, a rural village in upstate New York.

April, who is 15 years old, had the baby with Oliver, a 5-year-old giraffe, according to Animal Adventure. This is Oliver's first calf, but April knows the drill - this will be her fourth.

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April was pregnant for 16 months, just over the normal gestation time for a giraffe. When she finally gave birth, her calf's front hooves came out first, followed by the snout. He or she is expected to weigh around 150 pounds and will stand about 6 feet tall.

April will raise her calf naturally, and weaning could take between 6 to 10 months, maybe longer. Oliver, however, will not assist in raising the calf. Male giraffes, according to Animal Adventure Park, "only really care about two things - fighting and the unmentionable."

So because of fears of inbreeding, the calf will be relocated to another facility once the weaning process is over.

Make sure to keep up with the livestream. Now that the calf has been born, Animal Adventure will have a contest to name the calf.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.