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Baby Giant Eland Born at the Houston Zoo
Mom Stella Delivers Her First Calf
The Houston Zoo is proud to announce the birth of a baby giant eland on July 14, 2009 to first-time mom Stella. “Mother and her beautiful baby boy are doing fine,” said Houston Zoo hoofed stock supervisor Laurie McGivern. “Stella began showing signs of labor early Tuesday morning,” said McGivern. “By about 10:30 a.m. we noticed the baby’s front feet emerging from the birth canal. She was in labor about 85 minutes and the baby was born just before noon,” said McGivern.
Stella immediately began washing and nuzzling the newborn. “She has done so well for a first time mother,” said McGivern. “She encouraged him to stand up by nudging him and the little boy was standing on his own at the tender age of 45 minutes,” added McGivern. Mom Stella is 2 years old. The father, Winston is 3 years of age.
Stella wasn’t shy about having her first calf, giving birth near the front of the Zoo’s giant eland exhibit with an audience of approximately two dozen guests, including children from one of the Zoo’s Camp Zoofari classes. Stella and her new calf remained near the front of the exhibit, greeted by Zoo guests as dad Winston joined the group to inspect his firstborn son.
With the calf’s arrival, the Houston Zoo is now home to 5 giant eland including Stella’s 6 year old mother Dorothy and Elwood who was born last year. The newest arrival has not yet been named.
The world’s largest antelope, Eastern and Western giant eland inhabit only a small fraction of their former range in Africa’s west and central woodlands. Eastern giant eland, the species that lives at the Houston Zoo are classified by conservation organizations as threatened. Approximately 14,000 Eastern giant eland may be found today in Cameroon, the Central African Republic and Sudan. Western giant eland are classified as endangered. In 1990, it was believed that fewer than 1,000 Western giant eland lived in Senegal and the Niokolo Koba National Park. Social animals, giant eland are browsers, much like deer, and prefer to eat fresh leaf buds.
