Newborn giraffe at Jerusalem zoo draws long list of names

A campaign to find a name for a baby giraffe born this week at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo has drawn over 1,000 suggestions, a spokesperson said Wednesday.

The giraffe was born on Sunday, which as the longest day in the year, is World Giraffe Day.

Her parents, Maya and Roi, were also born in the zoo.

As it often does, the zoo turned to the public for ideas on what to name the 50-kilogram baby girl who was standing on her own feet just an hour after her birth and was already 1.5 meters tall.

A baby giraffe born in the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo, seen with her mother, Maya, June 21, 2020. (Jerusalem Biblical Zoo)

A Facebook campaign has already seen over 1,000 names put forward.

The spokesperson told The Times of Israel that keepers will eventually choose a name after observing the newborn and getting a feel for her character.

Aside from adding to the zoo’s herd of giraffes, the birth is also an important contribution for the particular species, the South African giraffe, which is considered vulnerable due to hunting that has reduced numbers in the wild.

There are currently only about 100,000 giraffes of all kinds living in the wild, a third less than there were in the 1980s, according to the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, an international science-based organization.