Zoo giraffe to soon become `daddy longlegs'

LUCKNOW: The wait for the giraffes's newborn is still on at Lucknow zoo. The calf is expected to be born anytime soon. The zoo authorities had shared last month the news about giraffe pair, Anubhav and Sujata, being in the family way.
The good news may finally pour in by this month or early next month. "We are waiting for Sujata's baby," said Renu Singh, zoo director.
The only surviving calf of the pair, Khushi, who was born in 2005, has already been sent to Mysore Zoo under an exchange programme for the chimps' pair. The calves which the female gave birth to in the later years could not survive. Sujata had given birth to a male calf in 2007 but the newborn died within few days due to respiratory disorders. In 2008, she gave birth to a female calf but even that could not survive owing to several disorders. The apprehensions, this time, therefore are natural. But the zoo authorities are keeping their fingers crossed.
Anubhav was brought from Alipore Zoo, Kolkata, in 2002, and Sujata was brought from the same zoo in 2003 to Lucknow. This time around the couple mated in June, 2009. It is after a gestation period of 440 days that female gives birth to a newborn. Sujata, in this case, is being accorded proper medical attention and care.