PEORIA —The nameless newborn giraffe at the Peoria Zoo, 17 days old, answered no direct questions, but calmly stood for photographs and videos Thursday as she was introduced to the media. She is the second giraffe calf born at the zoo to mother Vivian and father Taji since Finley arrived in July, 2016 at 122 poinds. Finley now weighs 900 pounds. The new female calf was born Jan. 7, at 122 pounds, and 5-foot-10 inches tall, about the height of an average adult American male.
Mother and daughter are doing well.
"Everything is going just the way we would want it to," zoo director Yvonne Strode said Thursday. "We're absolutely thrilled."
The zoo is enlisting the public's help in naming he tall slender ungulate, native to the savannahs of Africa, but forever a Peorian, thanks to the location her birth. . Officials have come up with a list of six name choices and the public may select one name for a donation of $1 on the zoo's website, www.peoriazoo.org. The names are Farah, Fern, Layla, Sophie, Twiggy and Zara The contest is open Jan. 26 through Feb. 26 with the winning name to be announced on March 1 at a zoo press conference.
This story will be updated later.