HARPURSVILLE, N.Y. (WETM) – Animal Adventure Park, the home of the world famous April the Giraffe and her baby, is anticipating a new calf coming for its second female giraffe, Johari.
The park says that despite there not being a documented connection between Johari and a male giraffe Oliver, they have “strong reason” to believe that another baby giraffe is coming soon.
“For the first time ever, we are in a calf conundrum! Testing and veterinary work has us baffled. While testing has been inconclusive, there are many physical and behavioral observations that suggest a pregnancy, such as body condition changes and growth, recognizable pattern stretching and changes in the udder area,” park owner Jordan Patch said. “While this is not the solid scientific data we hope for in these situations, it is in Johari’s best interest that we go into full blown calf watch during this critical window of time to ensure that we are not underprepared to assist Johari with a safe delivery, if that time comes.”
Beginning Tuesday, the park’s Giraffe Cams will stream the live footage in Giraffe Barn 1 during the evening hours. Weekly updates will occur on Fridays at 11 a.m., LIVE from Giraffe Barn 1, broadcasted via Facebook. In our segment, “Hey Joh, Whadaya Know!”, the park will provide updates and document changes and progress, and end each segment with a Q&A session from viewers.’
“We are certainly not the first facility to struggle with definitively diagnosing a pregnancy. These types of situations have happened, and continue to happen, in captive management programs,” Patch said. “It is our goal to continue to educate our viewers, and this unique scenario yields itself a very different lesson, and great uncertainty of what to expect. We thought April kept us on the edge of our seats? Johari takes the stage!”
April the Giraffe, whose pregnancy captivated online viewers for nearly two months in 2017, is now enjoying her retirement at Animal Adventure Park, alongside one of her calfs, son Taj.
The 17-year-old April has given birth to five calves – the most recent was a male named Azizi, born in March of 2019.