The internet has brought a whole lot of knowledge right to our fingertips.
We can chat with people from around the world with live translation and almost no lag. We can rally to support causes across the globe. We can win “who was that actor in that movie with the girl?” debates with a quick google.
And, most importantly, we can watch cute animals be cute 24/7.
If you don’t remember April the Giraffe, what’s wrong with you?
Just kidding (mostly).
Back in 2017 — which feels like forever in internet years — we all watched with bated breath as April’s due date for her calf came and went.
She was due in February, but didn’t actually go into labor until April 15th.
Can you imagine having to wait more than a month extra past the expected due date? April’s entire pregnancy was about 16 months. Yikes!
The longer the wait, the more and more people tuned in to watch the live stream on YouTube.
By the time the feed was turned off, it had gotten more than 232 million views. 1.2 million people watched the birth live on YouTube, with another 750,000 watching via the park’s Facebook page.
A contest was held to name the boy calf and “Tajiri” won.
The word means “hope” in Swahili.
Anyone who wanted to submit a name could do so with a donation of $1, with a maximum of five submissions and all the money was put towards Taj’s care and the park.
The park has been keeping everyone up to date on Taj’s progress.
In November 2018, Taj was moved to a spacious new home and you can see in the pics how big he’s gotten!
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He even got a new giraffe friend, who voters named Johari, which means “jewel” in Swahili.
Eventually all kids need to move out of their parents’ home, but there was another reason Taj needed his own place.
April was expecting another calf! The park had announced the pregnancy in July 2018. Like Taj, this baby was sired by fellow Animal Adventure Park inhabitant, Oliver.
Then at the end of February, 2019, it was announced that signs of labor were starting.
This time, April was early. The staff didn’t expect to start seeing signs for another couple of weeks.
And April clearly wasn’t willing to wait around this time!
On March 16th, she gave birth to another adorable boy calf! Look at that face!
He doesn’t have a name yet, but I’m sure there will be another contest announced.
If you want to see what mom and baby are up to, you can still check out the livestream over on YouTube !
