Orange County

6-foot-tall, 183-pound giraffe calf born at Disney’s Animal Kingdom

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park’s newest resident is a healthy, long-legged Masai giraffe calf.

The theme park said the baby boy, born June 10, is nearly 6 feet tall and weighs in at 183 pounds.

READ: Disney’s Animal Kingdom welcomes a new family member to its cast

“He’s a special guy with a unique butterfly marking over his right shoulder and heart-shaped markings dotting his coat,” officials said in a news release announcing his birth.

The theme park said giraffes are a vulnerable species facing extinction in the wild, with a population decline of 40% over the past 30 years.

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The park said there are roughly 35,000 Masai giraffes left in the wild, and their population continues to decline due to poaching and habitat destruction.

Sarah Wilson

Sarah Wilson, WFTV.com

Sarah Wilson joined WFTV Channel 9 in 2018 as a digital producer after working as an award-winning newspaper reporter for nearly a decade in various communities across Central Florida.