Two Maasai giraffes were born in Nairobi National Park (Kenya) after 15 months of gestation.

“It is an extremely rare phenomenon”, welcomed the Minister of Wildlife, Najib Balala, on Twitter on Tuesday.

Giraffes are classified as "vulnerable" in the red list established in 2016 by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

In question: the growth of the human population, illegal hunting or the expansion of agriculture and mining operations limiting their habitat.

One of the Maasai giraffes in Nairobi National Park has given birth to a set of twins.

This is an extremely rare occurrence.

We welcome the new borns with love.

#ZuruNairobiPark #MagicalKenya 🇰🇪 pic.twitter.com/QR8dAAOOGk

— Hon.

Najib Balala (@tunajibu) July 19, 2022


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A rare birth

There are only around 117,000 giraffes left in the wild in the world.

According to the Foundation for the conservation of giraffes, their number has dropped by 30% in the last thirty years.

Kenya is home to three subspecies: Maasai, Reticulated, and Rothschild's giraffes.

The iconic park of Nairobi (117 km²) attracts many tourists for the richness of its fauna.

It was designed by British settlers in the 1940s and has since resisted the rapid growth of the capital and its infrastructure, factories and homes.

Giraffes have one of the longest gestations among mammals: 15 months.

They give birth upright, the young then falling a little less than 2 m to the ground.

They are then up and running in less than an hour.

Only a handful of baby twin births have been documented worldwide, most often without survival.

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