First female ‘Angolan Giraffe’ born in Malaga, Spain

According to a report on Typically Spanish her name is Antenea and she is the first female of this endangered species to be born in Spain. Just a few days after her birth, she already measures 2 metres in height and weighs in at around 80 kilos. She is expected to reach a height of 5 metres once fully grown. Antenea lives with her parents 'Carmina' and 'Seus' and her brother, 'Apolo,' who was born at the centre’s special giraffe enclosure 2 years ago. Rarely seen in Europe, the Angolan Giraffe is native to Africa and the southern parts of Angola, the northern parts of Namibia, and the western parts of Botswana. They are identified by a large spotted pattern running down the length of their legs. The Angolan Giraffe is one of the tallest mammals on earth. The only other groups of this endangered species found in Europe are in zoos in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, and in Dortmund in Germany. According to Jeanne Egbosiuba Ukwendu, an African Culture Editor for Bella online, a giraffe lives up to 10 years, but they have been known to live up to 27 years. Giraffes have black tongues and, although their neck is very long, they only have 7 vertebrae in their necks as humans do. They are normally silent, but they will also give warning snorts, moans, and hisses. A baby giraffe has a 6 foot (2 metre) drop when it is born and lands on its head. Giraffes normally eat tree leaves but drink very little and can go up to two weeks without water. They have four stomachs in the same way as a ruminant, and regurgitate their food whilst chewing it completely. They sleep between ten minutes and two hours in a 24-hour period, averaging just 1.9 hours per day. It has been proven that they show distinct patterns of stereotypical behaviour if removed from their natural environment. Most humanly reared Giraffes never have the opportunity of 'suckling' milk from their mother, and so instead, they often display excessive use of their tongue on inanimate objects.