[top photo: Kayin suckling from her mother, Dobeni.]

Night Safari's baby giraffe, Kayin, whose name means "long-awaited one" in Swahili, is the first giraffe to have been born in six years. Her proud parents are first-time mother, Dobeni and fourth-time father, Pongola.

Kayin is a healthy baby and recently saw a growth spurt of 1.1 metres in 10 months. She now stands at 2.9m tall.

Despite having been born on 27 July last year, she has only just been exhibited due to extra precautions taken by keepers. Conditioning was undertaken before letting her graze in the mixed habitat that is shared with the zebras and scimitar-horned oryx.

The happy giraffe family.

Although the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) status of giraffes is at low risk, baby giraffes nonetheless face a myriad of threats to their lives.

"In the wild, young giraffes often fall prey to lions, leopards and wild dogs. It is estimated that only a small percentage of baby giraffes reach adulthood," said Mr Kumar Pillai, assistant director, zoology, Night Safari.

"Like our own offspring, we will continue to nurture the calf until it reaches adulthood and then find a suitable partner for her."

Night Safari boasts Over 1,000 animals from 115 species (of which almost 30 per cent are threatened) inhabiting its 40-hectares.

As part of conservation efforts, the park focuses on the captive breeding of threatened species. Over the years, it has bred Malayan tigers, Asian elephants, fishing cats, red dholes, anoas, markhors, bantengs and Malayan tapirs, among other endangered species.

Night Safari is part of Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) and is a designated wildlife rescue centre by the governing authority.

-AsiaOne