Baby Giraffe Born From An Endangered Species In Connecticut And The Two Immediately Bond Like A Mother And Child Would

A baby giraffe was born by its six-year-old endangered mother at the LEO Zoological Conservation Center in Greenwich, Conn. Friday.

"It's really astonishing how a huge animal like that ... how delicately and in such a nurturing way she approaches caring for her calf," Marcelle Leone, founder and director of the center, told the Greenwich Time. "She's a great mom."

According to the staff, the Rothschild giraffe and its the calf bonded "extremely well" within 30 minutes after the baby giraffe was born. The mother was cleaning the calf with her 18-inch-long tongue.

 "The offspring will definitely be with us for the first year, if not indefinitely," Leone told the Greenwich Time.

The LEO Zoological Conservation Center is a 100-acre refuge that focuses on breeding at-risk species, according to the Christen Science Monitor. The center houses the animals at off-site breeding centers providing large, natural habitats and an environment for the animals in which humans are not all around them. Other species that have had new births at the center include a kangaroo, an aardvark, and a white-faced Saki monkey.

"This is serving our mission," Leone said. "What we're doing is working. Being an off-exhibit facility, it means so much for the animals to live that low-impact life."

Native to East Africa, the Rothschild giraffe is classified as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List - fewer than 670 are left in the wild. They are now extinct in the Sudan, but can still be found in western Kenya and eastern Uganda, according to the Christian Science Monitor.

According to the Rothschild Research Project, Rothschild giraffes are different from other giraffes because of their coloring and patch marks, which are less jagged than Masaii giraffes. They have light, cream-colored background and no markings below their knees.