Giraffe born at Port Lympne Reserve, Hythe
Published: 10:21, 08 June 2018
Updated: 11:29, 08 June 2018
A wildlife park in Kent welcomed its newest arrival.
A baby giraffe - yet to be named - was born around 5.20pm last night at Port Lympne Reserve in Hythe after weeks of waiting.
Staff at the park have been preparing to welcome two new arrivals from Lunar and Lehana, who are both Rothschild giraffes, which is an endangered species.
Both giraffes are seven years old and are already mothers, Lunar is mum to two-year-old female Mwezi and Lehana is mum to two-year-old male Bakora.
Although Lunar's calf was expected to arrive first, it was actually Lehana who gave birth this morning.
A spokeswoman for the wildlife park said: "We're absolutely thrilled to welcome the new arrival.
"The birth was really quick and both mum and calf are doing super well."
"We're still unsure of the sex yet because they're both getting on so well and bonding so nicely so we want to leave them to it but our experts have been monitoring them."
When the the giraffes, who arrived at the park in 2013 as part of a breeding programme, entered their final stages of pregnancy, a live stream was set up so people could keep tabs on the giraffes and even see the births.
The video is still streaming on Youtube where you can see the new calf as well as wait for the imminent arrival.
The new arrival will be sharing their home with eight other giraffes (not including the expected calf) who live on nearly 100 acres in Port Lympne's African Experience.
However, the park are now trying to raise funds to extend the giraffe house and build a nursery for the two new calves.
To donate visit www.aspinallfoundation.org/donate and include 'giraffe' in the comments.
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Kristina Curtis