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
New Zealand giraffe weevil New Zealand giraffe weevil The New Zealand giraffe weevil, Lasiorhynchus barbicornis, is a distinctive straight-snouted weevil in the subfamily Brentinae, endemic to New Zealand. "L. barbicornis" is New Zealand's longest beetle, and shows extreme sexual dimorphism: males measure up to 90 mm, and females 50 mm, although there is an extreme range of body sizes in both sexes. In males the elongated snout (or rostrum) can be nearly as long as the body. Male giraffe weevils use this long rostrum to battle over females, although small males can avoid conflict and 'sneak' in to mate with females, sometimes under the