San Diego Zoo welcomes new baby giraffe

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – The San Diego Zoo welcomed a new baby Masai giraffe on Tuesday.

The female giraffe was born at 1:40 p.m. and it’s sex was confirmed on Wednesday after a veterinary exam.

According to the zoo staff, she stands 6 feet tall and weighs 136 pounds, and could add a foot or more in height and weigh up to 500 pounds by the time she’s 6 months old.

According to the the zoo’s Christina Simmons, the baby is the 11th baby born to mother Bahati.

Mother and baby are doing well.

The population of Masai giraffes has declined from 140,000 or so in the 1990s to less than 80,000 today because of habitat loss and competition for resources.

The natives of Kenya and Tanzania are the world’s tallest land animals.