By Lindsey Bever
The Washington Post
Any moment now, April, the beloved, pregnant giraffe that has distracted the Internet for weeks, could give birth.
Jordan Patch, owner of Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville, New York, said Friday morning on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that “April has progressed significantly overnight and, by all means, today is not the day to stop watching. We are there. We are close. All signs are go.”
Animal Adventure Park officials said Friday on Facebook that “staff have been onsite with April all morning, Dr Tim was called and onsite within minutes. All observations, behavior, and predictions suggest a calf today, tonight – we would be shocked to get through the weekend without our newest addition.”
The park added: “This is what we have all been waiting for! … We will keep the world posted.”
Keepers said Thursday night that April’s behavior was “very off” from her usual demeanor, declining to let veterinarians get close enough to finish an exam or snap intimate photos as she waited for her calf to be born.
But the giraffe has been waiting – along with the rest of us — for months.
April obtained celebrity status last month when Animal Adventure Park launched a live stream on YouTube to let the world watch her give birth – and then someone reported the feed to YouTube for “sexually explicit” content with nudity.
On Feb. 23, YouTube briefly removed the live stream, then restored it — and a pregnant animal star was born, said Patch, the park’s owner.
“Initially, when the camera went live back in the beginning of February, it was getting some viewership,” he said Friday on ABC. “But then all of the sudden, it got very, very popular, and there are some people who fundamentally disagree with what we do here – keeping animals in captivity – but there is a purpose for that. So their tool to take down our cam to punish us or take it off-air was to report it to YouTube for having sexually explicit content.
“Well, it did go down, but only for about 30, 60, maybe 90 minutes, and then it was back up due to popular demand, and from there it has gone viral.”
So why does it seem like April has been pregnant for an eternity?
Well, female giraffes, called cows, have an average gestation period of 15 months, or 453 to 464 days, according to Animal Planet.
This will be April’s fourth calf, according to Animal Adventure Park.
“The neat thing about giraffe labor is that they instinctively hide the labor signs because in the wild, if they were making it very clear they were in labor, every hyena and lion would sit tight and wait for mom to become vulnerable,” Patch said Friday.
Once in full labor, she could deliver in an hour or less, Patch said.
When April is ready to give birth, she will do so standing in her barn.
Her calf – which will weigh about 150 pounds and measure about 6 feet tall – will come out front hoofs first and begin walking 30 minutes to an hour later, according to Animal Planet.
Keepers said Friday that they expect April to deliver within the day.
“Keep April and our team in your positive thoughts,” the park said on Facebook.
Importantly, it added: “Www.aprilthegiraffe.com is your source for all things April. We encourage you to shop NOW if you want April Gear before supply becomes backordered and the sale ends.”
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