For most of us, the day that a child is born is a day of incredible joy and happiness. It is also a day of incredible stress and concern as we want to make sure the baby comes out perfectly healthy and without complications.
For animals in a zoo, these emotions seem to be amplified. For all of the happiness, joy, fear, and concern that the new mother is feeling, there is often a crowd of people standing by and watching, ready to burst out with all of these emotions. So with this in mind, imagine the feeling of being in this crowd when the newborn baby may be struggling.
In this edge-of-your-seat video, Marilyn, a giraffe in the Memphis Zoo, gives birth while visitors watch. For a series of minutes, it seems like the newborn may not have made it, but slowly, very slowly, it begins to get up and walk around, to the great relief of this crowd and the mother.
Watch and see this incredible moment of fear and suspense followed immediately by the crowds’ relief and pure joy. What a beautiful feature of nature that was able to be witnessed. The Zoo named the baby giraffe Angela Kate and she has since gone on to have a baby of her own. They grow up so fast.
