KYLE'S KRITTERS: Another baby giraffe

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DENVER - In our weekly visit to the Denver Zoo, Kyle's Kritters introduces us to Pongo, a Reticulated Giraffe calf that was born on Feb. 15.

Pongo came into the world weighing 175 pounds just under 6 feet tall - some baby! This is the sixth baby for mom, Masika, and the 13th for dad, Dikembe.

We also checked in on another young male named Timber, who we met last fall. Timber has grown quite a bit these seven months and was introduced to Pongo in the yard just last week. Timber adopted his role as big brother almost instantly, and zookeeper Karen Scott was pleased.

"Timber hung out with him all day long, really did well," she said. "They ran around a little bit together playing, and Timber was just pretty much staying with him... in fact, Timber wouldn't even come inside until the baby was in."

Reticulated Giraffes are native to the dry savannah and open woodlands of Kenya and Eastern Sudan in east central Africa. These are the tallest land mammals in the world, with adult males growing up to 19 feet. These majestic animals feed mostly off the high leaves and twigs of the acacia and combretum trees, but will eat as many as 100 different plants depending on availability. Adult giraffes can eat as much as 75 pounds of leaves and twigs a day.

The giraffe breeding program at the Denver Zoo has been a huge success, and other zoos in the United States have benefited.

"Pretty much anything that is born here, gets sent usually to another zoo," Scott said. "It helps to keep the gene pool diverse, and spreads the genetic material around. We usually send them out between one and two years old... before they get too big. It gets kind of difficult to move them when they're tall."

Keepers tell us that giraffes, along with elephants, lions and tigers, are among the most popular animals at the Zoo. Scott says every time a calf is born, visitors come out in big numbers just to see the new baby.

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