Birth Video - Giant Eland Calf Born at the Houston Zoo

On Tuesday July 14 2009, our young female Giant Eland gave birth to her first calf. Stella, the giant eland, wasnt shy about letting us have a peek at the process, and gave birth near the front of the exhibit area with an audience of over two dozen onlookers. Stella is two years old and this calf is her first offspring.

Stella began showing signs of labor early that morning. At about 10:30am feet were noticed coming out of the birth canal which is normal for this species the calf emerges with its front feet first, followed by the head. Stella labored for about 85minutes and then stood up to give birth, which helps with the birth process. A few seconds later she became the proud mother of a male calf.

She immediately began washing and nuzzling her newborn. Once he was sufficiently clean to her satisfaction, she nudged an encouragement for him to stand up. After just one unsuccessful try, he stood on shaky legs when he was about 45 minutes old.

Stella and her new calf then came right up to the fence and greeted her attentive audience. His father Winston joined the group and inspected his firstborn son. The calf joins his growing family at the Houston Zoo including Stellas mother Dorothy who is six years old, and uncle Elwood who was born last year.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Giant
• Eland
• Houston
• Zoo
• baby
• born
• give
• birth
• nature

[33Keith33]

Congrats on the new baby!

[soheiljerusalem]

O My God this is miracle of life! Thanks for tapin it and sharing it with the world!

[MochaholicPuppy]

go WINSTON!

[whorebucks]

welcome to a life of being behind a cage. animals should roam free and zoos are just prisons.

[naruto77dragon]

AWW... thats so cute. :3

[metsdudenj]

precious

[scrubjay93]

How wonderful that all those people young and old got to experience such a magical moment up close. And that the mother and baby were so accomodating!

[lurch276]

thats so cool! awesome

[NYNJGIRL]

aw i haven't seen him yet! also it's funny to listen to the crowd when he's trying to stand up