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
Nubian giraffe Nubian giraffe The Nubian giraffe ("Giraffa camelopardalis camelopardalis") is the nominate subspecies of giraffe. It is found in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan and Sudan. It is currently extinct in the wild of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt and Eritrea. The Nubian giraffe used to be widespread everywhere on Northeast Africa. The subspecies was listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN in 2018. The IUCN currently recognizes only one species of giraffe with nine subspecies, one of which is the Nubian giraffe. The Nubian giraffe, along with the whole species, were first known by the binomen "Cervus camelopardalis" described