Zoo Baby Giraffe's Name is No Stretch
Posted on: Friday, 24 March 2006, 09:00 CST
By Kristin Bender, STAFF WRITER
OAKLAND -- Most babies don't have to wait six weeks after birth for a name, but when you are more than 6 feet tall and weigh 200 pounds not just any name will do.
The Oakland Zoo announced this week that the baby giraffe born Feb. 6 has been named Chioke (pronounced key-o-kee), which means "a gift from God," in Ibo, one of the languages of Nigeria, Africa.
"They picked a good name," said Oakland Zoo spokeswoman Allison Lindquist.
Philanthropists Stacey and Dennis Barsema paid "several thousand" dollars for the naming rights, Lindquist said.
"We are very happy to support the Oakland Zoo and thrilled that we have had this opportunity to name this beautiful baby giraffe," said Stacey Barsema. "We are committed to the zoo and its mission, and proud to help this way."
Lindquist said Chioke, who zoo employees had been calling "The Brave Little Toaster" after a character in an old Disney film, is "doing great" and probably will join the other giraffes on exhibit in about two weeks.
"We are just waiting for the weather to warm up," she said.
There are now nine giraffes among the 440 native and exotic animals living at the 525-acre zoo.
Chioke was born just before 8 a.m. on a Monday after a 22-minute labor process. Zookeepers had been closely watching her mother Tiki, who was showing signs of the impending birth. Her water broke at 7:37 a.m. and zookeepers witnessed the entire birth.
The father is Kodjo, also the father of Bititi with another mother, Twiga. Bititi, which means "strong lady" in Swahili, was born on Mother's Day three years ago.
In the 15 months leading up to Chioke's birth -- and with the help of food rewards -- zookeepers trained the mother to submit to abdominal sonograms.
Veterinarians and keepers palpated her abdomen to obtain the images of her growing calf. They also performed physical examinations, trimmed her hooves, groomed her, did acupuncture and gave her therapeutic massage to ease the stress of pregnancy.
Treatments were done without the use of anesthesia, an accomplishment that will be presented in a paper at this year's American Association of Zoo Keepers national conference, zoo officials said.
Source: Oakland Tribune
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Posted by homie p on 04/10/2009, 15:36 this was no help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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