Baby Giraffe Birth: The 6-Foot Fall to Its First Steps

A baby giraffe’s first moment on Earth starts with a roughly 6-foot fall. After about 15 months in the womb, it drops to the ground front hooves first, and within minutes it’s trying to stand on legs taller than most humans.

In October 2026, the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio, United States, set up its first-ever giraffe birth livestream for Tessa, who was expecting her fifth calf.

In 2012, the zoo also live-tweeted the birth of one of Tessa’s earlier calves.

How Tall Is a Baby Giraffe?

At birth, a baby giraffe is about 6 feet (1.8 m) tall, taller than most adult humans, and weighs around 140 pounds (65 kg). It grows fast, nearly doubling its height in its first year.

Fully grown, males can reach about 18 feet (5.5 m) and females about 14 feet (4.3 m), making giraffes the tallest animals on Earth. They’re not the heaviest, though. For that list, see the heaviest land animals ever to exist.

What Happens When a Giraffe Is Born?

Giraffes give birth standing up. The calf comes out front hooves first, with its head close behind, and then drops about 5 - 6 feet to the ground. It sounds brutal, but the fall helps break the umbilical cord and get the calf breathing.

Within minutes, the calf is trying to get onto its wobbly legs, falling over again and again. It usually takes about an hour before it can stand steadily on its own.

Johan van Zyl of Wild Eye filmed this birth on safari. He says the whole birth took 45 minutes to an hour, and the calf landed “with a loud thump.” Getting up fast matters: a newborn calf and its mother are easy targets for lions and hyenas.

What Is a Baby Giraffe Called?

A baby giraffe is called a calf. Calves start nibbling leaves at about 4 months old, but keep nursing from their mothers for 9 - 12 months.

In this clip from the BBC’s Serengeti, filmed in Tanzania, a young giraffe tests its strength by play-fighting with other youngsters. Adult males use the same neck-swinging moves, called necking, to fight for mates.

How Fast Can a Giraffe Run?

Despite their size, giraffes can run up to around 35 mph (56 km/h) over short distances. They can also kick hard enough to seriously injure, or even kill, a lion.

What Sound Does a Giraffe Make?

Giraffes are mostly quiet, which is why many people think they make no sound at all. But they do snort when alarmed, and they can grunt, moo and hiss, though rarely.

In 2015, researchers from the University of Vienna recorded giraffes at zoos in Berlin, Copenhagen and Vienna and found something new: a low humming sound, picked up during their nighttime recordings. It’s still not clear what the hum is for.

April the Giraffe

Before Tessa, the most famous giraffe birth was April’s. For weeks in early 2017, people kept checking the live cam at Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville, New York, waiting for her to give birth.

Her calf, Tajiri, was finally born on April 15, 2017, with about 1.2 million people watching live on YouTube. April’s livestreams drew more than 232 million views in total.

April died in 2021, aged 20.

Did Michael Jackson Have a Giraffe?

Yes. Michael Jackson kept four giraffes at his private zoo in Neverland Ranch, California. He later sold them to a couple in Page, Arizona, who planned to open their own zoo.

Survival in the Wild

Life is tough for a wild calf. In one study of Masai giraffes in the Serengeti, about half of calves didn’t even reach six months old, mostly because of lions, hyenas and other predators.

Mothers do fight back. One of the most-watched wildlife videos on YouTube shows a mother giraffe trying to protect her newborn from a pride of lions.

Giraffes were listed as Vulnerable when they were treated as a single species. In August 2025, the IUCN officially recognized four giraffe species, and new assessments for each are underway.

Not every baby that follows a giraffe is a giraffe, though. In this video, a safari visitor in South Africa’s Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park filmed a newborn springbok trailing a giraffe as if it were its mother, until it found its real mom.

Watch Giraffes Live

Want to watch giraffes right now? These cams show giraffes at zoos in the United States and Australia.

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