It’s a rare event. A Maasai giraffe in Nairobi National Park, Kenya, has given birth to twins. The Minister of Tourism and Wildlife says the country welcomes them “with love”.
Two Maasai giraffes, twins with their small spotted bodies, were born south of the Kenyan capital after a 15-month gestation period, Twitter reported on Tuesday 19 July.
It was the minister in charge of wildlife who announced the event. He spoke of an “extremely rare phenomenon”. “We welcome the newborns with love,” added Najib Balala.
Giraffes are among the mammals with the longest gestation period. Fifteen months, in their case. Only a few cases of twins have been documented, most of them dead.
These giants give birth standing up: their young, larger on average than an adult human being, fall a little less than two meters, and then find themselves on all four legs, in principle, within the hour.
According to the accepted classification, Kenya is home to three types of giraffe, namely the Maasai, a species in its own right, the reticulated and the Rothschild. They live up to 25 years (35 years in captivity).
But these magnificent ruminant herbivores have been listed as threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List since 2016.