Standing tall

He's only three days old and is still finding his feet.

But the latest addition to Mogo Zoo on the South Coast has already captured plenty of hearts.

The male calf - still unnamed - was born at 1.30am at the zoo on Sunday.

Mum Shani had an ''arduous'' four-hour labour but within half an hour of the birth, her offspring was taking his first tentative steps and, soon after, suckling.

Zookeepers were able to watch the remarkable event via cameras set up in the giraffe enclosure.

Mogo Zoo general manager John Appleby said it was the second pure Rothschild Giraffe calf born at the zoo in less than two years.

''It's great to see our baby boy standing tall at about 180cm and suckling well,'' he said.

''We continue to play an active role in the global breeding program for this endangered species and I look forward to our continued expansion of our African savannah".

The Rothschild Giraffe is the second-most endangered giraffe subspecies, with only a few hundred members remaining in the world today.

Mogo Zoo's recent birth will play ''a modest, however essential'', role in securing the future of this endangered species, as this calf is only the 30th pure-bred Rothschild Giraffe born in the Australasian region in more than 20 years.

The Rothschild Giraffe, also known as the Baringo Giraffe, inhabits protected areas in Kenya and Northern Uganda, however, this subspecies is classified as "endangered" as numbers in the wild have dwindled to a mere few hundred. The gestation period of a Rothschild Giraffe is between 400 and 460 days following which a single calf is predominantly born, however, twins occasionally occur.

Mogo Zoo will be holding a naming competition in the forthcoming weeks via the Zoo's facebook page at www.facebook.com/MogoZoo