The baby we’ve all been awaiting has finally graced the world with her presence.
I’m talking of course, about April, the baby giraffe that held an entire online conglomerate captive online throughout her mother’s pregnancy.
The giraffe and her mother became internet sensations after a live stream from Animal Adventure Park. in Harpursville N.Y.
The stream began during the winter and drew an average of nearly five million viewers.
Through watching the giraffe carry her calf to term friendships were made and conversations had. People talked to each other on the stream, as they are wont to do. After seeing April through the pregnancy and the calf through it’s first steps, some of the people walked away having forged new friendships, and added them on facebook.
While April has seen three previous pregnancies, this one was uploaded to YouTube for a live feed. The feed gained popularity from then with people tuning in at all hours lest they miss the April giving birth. As the pregnancy continued, it gained a following. Never one to miss an opportunity, Animal Adventure Park even developed an online store where people can buy April The Giraffe Merchandise. Toys R Us also started sponsoring the feed in March, and showed its logo to prove it.
The newfound fame even led people to travel to the town of April’s enclosure, as one family reported driving all the way from Ohio, only to be told the zoo was closed.
For the people who followed the feed, the birth was as long awaited that of any expected child. The moment April was announced to be in labor, her followers signed in with unanimous anticipation. April, none the wiser paced around her pen with an extra pair of hoofs before a head was seen, and then the rest of the calf. Cries of “It’s a boy!” were given by the handler’s at the zoo, and echoed by the internet at large.
There will be a contest to name the calf, who will be raised and weaned by April for six months before he is moved to his own enclosure.