You now have a chance to name the new baby giraffe born in Fota

Fota Wildlife Park is delighted to announce that a baby female giraffe calf was born last week to mother Sapphire and father Tadhg.

The new arrival landed – literally as giraffes give birth while standing up - on Tuesday and will join the 12-strong herd of Rothschild giraffes residing at Fota Wildlife Park.

The calf is now strong enough to join her mother in the giraffe house enclosure, which is visible to the public, for short periods of time.

All she needs is a name!

So the park is calling on members of the public to give the baby giraffe an Irish name.

They’re even offering a prize of a year-long Conservation Membership to the winner.

To enter, just log onto their website - ww.fotalwildlife.ie and enter your suggestion.

Lead warden of the hoof stock section at Fota Wildlife Park, Aidan Rafferty said: “This young female is a very important addition to our herd and we are delighted that our captive breeding programme run with the European Endangered Species Programme has been such a success as there are fewer than 670 Rothschild giraffes left in the wild. We hope that the birth of this little one will help raise awareness of the plight of giraffes as a species.”

He added: “This young calf is getting stronger and stronger every day and in the coming weeks we hope that she will join the herd on the African Savannah paddock which is also home to Ostrich, Zebra and Scimitar-horned Oryx”.

The baby’s mother, Sapphire is 15-year-old and is originally from Edinburgh Zoo. This is her sixth calf.