It's the end of an internet era, friends. For over two months now, so many of us have been focusing a frankly ridiculous amount of attention on a pregnant giraffe living in a New York zoo. The giraffe, of course, is April. She's been living her life on a livestream since February, and thousands upon thousands of people have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of her baby. But the wait is over — this morning she gave birth! A little after 7:30 AM, she went into labor, and her calf was born just before 10:00. April's baby is a precious little boy, though he doesn't have a name yet. Since we've all been so invested in her pregnancy, the zoo will give the public a chance to help name the little guy. The calf, April's fourth, will stay with her until he's weaned, which usually happens within six to twelve months, then, sadly, the plan is for him to move onto a different facility. Though he's not even a day old yet, he's already up and moving. In fact, he was standing just half an hour after being born. Right now, the calf is with April in her enclosure, getting lots of love and attention from both his mother and his father, who's in the enclosure right next door. You can check out the whole happy family in the live video below. Congrats, April!
A Danish zoo is receiving hate mail from around the world after having killed a young, healthy giraffe to prevent inbreeding, then feeding it to the zoo’s lions. “I’ve got about 1,500 [texts] and e-mails, most of them are very hateful, addressed personally to me,” Copenhagen Zoo scientific director Bengt Holst said. Zoo spokesman Tobias Stenbaek Bro said quoted one e-mail as saying: “The children of the staff of Copenhagen Zoo should all be killed or should get cancer.” Giraffe Fed to Lions in Copenhagen The 18-month-old giraffe was killed by a gunshot Sunday at the Copenhagen Zoo and fed to lions in full view of visitors in person and via live stream. Even more incredible? Marius’ death took place even though an online petition gathered tens of thousands of signatures against the animal’s demise. The zoo also turned down offers from other zoos and individuals to take in the animal, which was born in captivity and is a species native to Africa. Holst said it was killed to maintain a healthy giraffe population genetically, as inbreeding can cause animals to be born with significant deformations. “If an animal’s genes are well represented in a population further breeding with that particular animal is unwanted,” he said in a statement Monday. “As this giraffe’s genes are well represented in the breeding program, there is no place for the giraffe in the Zoo’s giraffe herd,” and thus it was euthanized. Some zoologists say they were baffled by that rationale. William Amos, professor of evolutionary genetics at the University of Cambridge, responded: “It’s simplistic to say the animal doesn’t fit into our breeding plans – so then why let it breed it in the first place if you know it’s not a desirable offspring.” “I think it’s a rather feeble excuse,” Amos went on, deriding the Copenhagen facility. “It’s better to have another giraffe, particularly if it’s a healthy one.” However, The European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, which monitors international standards and of which Copenhagen is a member, backed the decision. “Our aim is to safeguard for future generations a genetically diverse, healthy population of animals against their extinction,” it said in a statement on its website. “Copenhagen is highly involved in these programs and took a transparent decision that the young animal in question could not contribute to the future of its species further.” “Given the restraints of space and resources to hold an unlimited number of animals within our network and program, should therefore be humanely euthanized.” Amos said in response that nature has its own way of handling inbreeding. “Basically, we don’t understand enough about these things,” he said. “The subject of inbreed depression, when close relatives breed, is a concern. However, when you get that, you tend to get (the death) of the (overbred animals).” As the debate rages on, so does the contempt among the public. An online petition that once called for saving Marius is now calling for Holst to be fired.
Not to be alarmist or anything, but if watching this baby giraffe stand up for the first time doesn’t melt your heart, you might want to check yourself for a pulse: Baby Giraffe Tries to Stand The baby calf’s mom, Petal, is a 6-year-old endangered Rothschild giraffe living at the LEO Zoological Conservation Center in Greenwich, Connecticut. She gave birth earlier that morning. Not wasting any time! Both she and the youngster are doing well, though we’re not sure how he’s going to feel about this video once he’s an adolescent giraffe. Embarrassing!
Giraffes are plant-eating animals with cute faces who people rarely gawk at in fear of any kind. The giant beasts just stand around, munch on leaves and go about their peaceful business, right? Most of the time. But as part of a promotion for a new series titled Africa , Discovery has released a video of a brawl between two giraffes that the channel is billing as “the most violent giraffe fight ever filmed.” We’re not sure what its competition for such an honor would be, but the neck-whipping below is worth a viewing: Violent Giraffe Fight
iPhone 4 and Samsung Galaxy S displays in sunlight By engadget Tags : 4 , amoled , apple , display , galaxy , iphone , ips , retina , s , samsung , sunlight , super , test
Ke$ha showed us her knack for making produce vanish — with the help of a hungry giraffe.Baby Gaga was at a zoo in Australia last week, when she decided to get grubby with a long-necker. More Ke$ha Rihanna & Ke$ha — Last Girls on Earth Ke$ha … Permalink
Departing ‘Tonight Show’ host also enlists Ben Stiller, racehorse Mine That Bird in penultimate shots at NBC. By Kyle Anderson Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images On Thursday night’s edition of “The Tonight Show,” Conan O’Brien marked the penultimate episode of his brief tenure as host of the program by continuing to pull out all the stops, exiting NBC with guns blazing and bridges burning. Fresh off his newly signed exit deal (which will net him $32 million and allow him to be back on television by September), O’Brien took the hour to eviscerate the network, create yet another giant price tag for a sketch and let guests Robin Williams and Ben Stiller run roughshod.
