The giraffe with its calf at Patna zoo on Saturday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, May 21: Shanti has learnt from Shristi’s mistakes and so have the Patna zoo officials.

Four months after Shristi, a female giraffe at the zoo, lost its newborn calf within 36 hours of birth, Shanti, another female giraffe, delivered a healthy female calf at 5.45am today. Expectedly, the Patna zoo officials are overjoyed and are taking every little precaution to ensure the survival of the calf.

Having learnt their lesson from the previous incident, the zoo authorities have separated the male giraffe (Vikas) from the mother and the calf, so that the newborn gets all the attention of the mother. The officials of Patna zoo are also taking special steps to provide full comfort to the calf and her mother.

“The calf is in good health. It also walked for a while. We are, however, keeping a close watch on the newborn. She will be under intensive supervision for the next three months. The mother giraffe first fed the calf at around 7.45am,” Patna zoo doctor Ajit Kumar told The Telegraph.

“We came to know about the pregnancy from the behaviour of female giraffe. The gestation period of a giraffe generally lasts for 400 to 460 days,” informed the doctor.

Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park, at present, has three giraffes — one male and two females. These giraffes were brought here from San Diego zoo of the USA in 2006. The Patna zoo first witnessed the birth of a calf giraffe in January 2011. Shristi, the doe, gave birth to a female calf which died within 36 hours of birth.

Asked about the reason behind the death of the last female calf, Patna zoo director Abhay Kumar said: “The father giraffe was behaving very aggressively after the birth of the calf. It attacked the calf several times which led to minor injuries. The death had taken place due to some internal injury. The male giraffe also probably bit the calf once before being separated from the mother and the newborn.”

This time the zoo officials were extra cautious.

“We did not want to take any risk this time. We sent the keeper of the giraffe enclosure to Calcutta zoo to take lessons on how to take care of a newborn giraffe. His interaction with those managing the giraffe enclosure at the Calcutta zoo helped us in gaining knowledge about other aspects related to the birth of a giraffe calf,” said Abhay Kumar.

A nursery within the existing enclosure of giraffe has been made to keep the mother and the calf separated from the two other giraffes.

“We have taken this step as a precautionary measure. We don’t want to take any chance with the calf’s life,” said the zoo director.

The concern of the zoo officials can be understood as their happiness after the birth of first calf in January was short-lived.

The baby giraffe also brought smiles on the faces of the visitors. Sudhanshu Shekhar, a resident of Lodipur, said: “I was very disappointed when I heard about the death of the previous female calf. Now this baby has brought hopes of more giraffes. I have been visiting Patna zoo for many years. This is something extraordinary and now I will bring my children to see the baby giraffe.”

Another visitor Kumar Abhishek, a resident of Police Lines Colony said: “This is the first time that am seeing a giraffe baby. It is almost 5ft tall. It is really fascinating to watch the affection and love of her mother and they way she is caring and feeding her calf.”