Kenya reports rare twin giraffe births

By Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) - Wildlife officials in Kenya reported an uncommon occurrence Tuesday: a giraffe who gave birth to twins.

“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 newborns with love,” said Tourism Minister Najib Balala.

The giraffes are currently at the park in the nation’s capital, which is said to be the only city in the world with a national park.

The new home to the twins has wide open grass plains and a backdrop of the city skyscrapers, scattered acacia bush play host to a wide variety of wildlife including the endangered black rhino, lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, buffaloes, giraffes and a diverse birdlife with more than 400 recorded species, according to the Kenya Wildlife Services.

There have only been a small number of twin giraffe births documented across the world.

The giraffe is the tallest land animal in the world averaging 5 meters (16.4 feet). Its extinction status was moved from ‘Least Concern’ to ‘Vulnerable’ in a 2016 report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.