Giraffes in the enclosure at Patna Zoo. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, Feb. 8: Patna zoo officials are taking special care of a female giraffe expected to give birth to a calf in less than a month’s time.

Having witnessed the death of a giraffe calf within 36 hours after it was born last month, the zoo officials are taking extra precaution to cut down on birth-related risks.

“We are sending the animal keeper of the giraffe enclosure to Calcutta zoo to take lessons on how to take care of a newly born giraffe. His interaction with those managing the giraffe enclosure at Calcutta zoo would also help in gaining more knowledge about other aspects related to the birth of a giraffe calf,” Patna zoo director Abhay Kumar told The Telegraph.

The zoos at Calcutta and Mysore are the only biological parks in the country which have witnessed birth and survival of giraffe calves.

Patna zoo, too, had joined the list after one of its female giraffes gave birth to a calf in the last week on January this year, but it died the next day.

The zoo officials have also sent a proposal for setting up a nursery within the existing enclosure of giraffes so that the mother and the calf can be separated from the other two giraffes in the enclosure immediately after the birth.

The zoo officials are also making arrangements for artificial feeding of the expected calf in case it does not go for the mother’s milk, as it happened with the calf that died.

“We don’t want to take any chances with this calf. Therefore, all the necessary steps are being taken so that the best possible facilities can be provided to the expected calf,” said the zoo director.

The concern of the zoo officials are justified as their joy after the birth of the last calf was short-lived. Sources in the zoo said the calf died because it was attacked by the male giraffe immediately after its birth, but the zoo officials dismissed the claim as baseless.

“We have not yet received the final post-mortem report,” Kumar said, adding prima facie it appeared that the calf died because it did not take the mother giraffe’s milk.

He said Mysore zoo had faced a similar situation and none of the first three calves born there survived because of lack of the mother’s milk. “Mysore zoo officials opted for artificial feeding for the fourth calf immediately after its birth and it survived,” Kumar added.

Patna zoo has three giraffes — one male and two females. These giraffes were brought here from San Diego zoo of the USA in 2006.

Eight zoos in the country — Calcutta, Chennai, Guwahati, Lucknow, Delhi, Hyderabad, Patna and Mysore — have giraffes. The total number of giraffes in these zoos stands at 23, according to the records of the Central Zoo Authority.

Thiruvananthapuram zoo also had a giraffe but it died some time back.