CCTV footage showed the moment the baby wobbled as he got to his feet to meet his two-month-old brother Mburo.
A rare baby giraffe branded a “special new arrival” has been captured falling six feet to the ground after birth, in dramatic footage at Chester zoo.
The young calf’s mother Orla, a highly endangered Rothschild’s giraffe gave birth after two and a half hours of labour at 3am on Wednesday May 8.
CCTV footage showed the moment the baby fell onto the straw below, and wobbled as he got to his feet to meet his two-month-old brother Mburo.
Sarah Roffe, Giraffe team manager at the zoo, said: “When you’re the world’s tallest land mammal, your entry into the world is a long one, and not always very graceful.
“But since giraffes give birth standing up, a calf starts off its life with a drop of up to two metres to the ground. This fall breaks the umbilical cord helps to stimulate its first breath.
“Following the birth, Orla’s calf was then on its feet within 30 minutes, and is already towering above most of the keepers at nearly six feet tall.
“It’s so far looking strong and healthy and is another special new arrival, coming hot on the hooves of Mburo who was born just eight weeks ago.
“Mburo was clearly highly interested in the new thing that had landed near to him. Seeing the two young calves together is wonderful.”
Rothschild’s giraffes are under a threat of extinction, with fewer than 2,650 in the wild.
Around one-third of the surviving population of Rothschild’s giraffes live in zoos, where carefully coordinated breeding programmes create a safety net for the population.
The species can be identified by its broader dividing white lines and has no spots between the knees.
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepal’s youngest prime minister took the oath of office Friday after his party won a landslide victory in elections earlier this month, and following a youth-led uprising that toppled the government in September.
Balendra Shah was appointed prime minister by President Ram Chandra Paudel Friday after his Rastriya Swatantra Party won nearly two-thirds of the seats in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament, in the March 5 polls.
Shah, the 35-year-old political outsider widely known as Balen, will lead a government tasked with navigating deep public frustration with Nepal’s established parties, who were widely blamed by voters for corruption and chronic political instability.
The elaborate swearing-in ceremony was to include Hindu rituals, such as the “shankhnaad” or blowing of conches, and religious chanting by Hindu priests and Buddhist lamas.
The timing of Shah's oath taking — at 12:34 p.m. on the day when the Himalayan nation is celebrating Ram Navami — was seen as an auspicious time by Hindu priests based on astrological calculations. It also fits the “1-2-3-4” numerological pattern. Shah is later scheduled to enter his new office at 14:15 p.m. which also fits a “14-15” pattern. Hindu priests consider such numerical patterns as auspicious as well.
Religion and astrology play a big role in Nepal, which is more than 80% Hindu and where people begin new work, get married and hold religious rituals according to auspicious times.
Shah was born in the capital Kathmandu but his family comes from the Hindu-dominated Terai region of Nepal, near the border with India.
A structural engineer who rose to fame as a rap artist before becoming Kathmandu’s mayor, he leads the Rastriya Swatantra Party, which won about two-thirds of the 275 seats in the bicameral Parliament’s powerful lower House of Representatives.
Shah emerged as a prominent voice during the bloody youth-led uprising in September that toppled the government in the nation of 30 million people, a wave of unrest that left dozens dead.
Although he didn’t directly participate in the protests, Shah publicly expressed support for the largely Generation Z demonstrators who led the movement.
Nepal's former Chief Justice and interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki, left, watches as Nepal's youngest prime minister Balendra Shah, takes the oath of office at a function in Kathmandu, Nepal, Friday, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)
Nepal's youngest Prime Minister Balendra Shah takes the oath of office at a function in Kathmandu, Nepal, Friday, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)
Nepal's youngest Prime Minister Balendra Shah, second right, takes the oath of office at a function in Kathmandu, Nepal, Friday, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)
Nepal's youngest Prime Minister Balendra Shah signs after taking the oath of office at a function in Kathmandu, Nepal, Friday, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)
Balendra Shah, front center with sun glasses, arrives for a swearing-in ceremony of newly elected members of the House of Representatives at the Federal Parliament in Kathmandu, Nepal, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)
Balendra Shah, center with sun glasses, arrives for a swearing-in ceremony of newly elected members of the House of Representatives at the Federal Parliament in Kathmandu, Nepal, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)
