New baby Rothschild Giraffe named Kijana...
Following on from the recent news of a male baby giraffe born at Orana Wildlife Park on November 3rd, he has now been named.
He is called Kijana, which is a Kiswahili word for boy/son/youth. He is doing very well and Orana Wildlife Park are very pleased to now have two young, lively Giraffe boys at the Park.
The name Kijana is well known in Kenya, the typical home for the Rothschild giraffe, as this was the nickname of the former Vice President of Kenya, Michael Christopher "Kijana" Wamalwa.
Michael Wamalwa was so called Kijana as he was thought to be too young for politics when he first attempted to enter the Kenyan parliament at the age of 30 in 1974. After 2 decades of politics his opposition coalition, the National Rainbow coalition, swept to power in elections December 2002, ending 24 years of rule under President Daniel arap Moi. Although the countries celebrations were short lived as Wamalwa passed away on 23rd August 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3176789.stm
A baby giraffe whether male or female is known as a calf and by the age of 3 months old will have started to eat from shrubs and small bushes, but can also continue to suckle from it's mother until it is 10 months old.
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