Giraffe up. The calf emerges head and front legs first, having broken through the fetal membranes, and falls to the ground, severing the umbilical cord. The mother then grooms the newborn and helps it stand up. A newborn giraffe is tall. Within a few hours of birth, the calf can run around and is almost indistinguishable from a one-week-old. However, for the first 1–3 weeks, it spends most of its time hiding; its coat pattern providing camouflage. The ossicones, which have lain flat while it was in the womb, become erect within a few days. Mothers with calves will gather in
Zarafa (giraffe) for giraffe: "zerafa". Olivier Lebleu, author of the new preface to the second edition (2007) of the French journalist Gabriel Dardaud's book "Une giraffe pour le roi" (the first modern full-length work about France's first giraffe) has taken up the name "Zarafa," as have several other recent authors, including Lebleu himself in his 2006 book "Les Avatars de Zarafa". In addition, the eponymous 2012 French animation film, "Zarafa" uses the name; and even the museum in La Rochelle, where her mounted remains still greet visitors, now refers to her by the name Zarafa. Muhammad Ali Pasha also sent two other