April the giraffe has become a part of people’s lives across the country.
For more than a month now, people have watched April eat, sleep and play at Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville, N.Y.
The one thing they haven’t seen is what they’re watching for: April giving birth.
Excitement over April grew several weeks ago when many thought that her baby calf’s birth was imminent. After weeks of watching, they’re still waiting.
As April’s belly has grown, her audience has expanded. With so many live streams – authorized and unauthorized – it’s impossible to know just how many people have watched, but Animal Adventure Park’s Facebook page has grown from tens of thousands of followers to more than 800,000. April’s YouTube channel has hundreds of thousands of daily views, and millions more have watched on television stations across the country (including 11Alive).
The BBC calculated that as a human race, we’d watched more than 1,000 years of the April feed. That’s the same amount of time we went from the Dark Ages to putting a man on the moon. And that was on March 3. Since then, April’s popularity has only skyrocketed.
She’s even got a sponsor now. Viewers on Wednesday were quick to spot a Toys R Us logo on the park’s YouTube feed.
So is April one of the most recognizable faces in the world? We put that theory to the test. Watch below:
Things that have happened since the world first became aware of April on Feb. 22:
- We found planets that could harbor life.
- Shaquille O’Neal told us the Earth is flat
- President Donald Trump issued a second travel ban…
- …only to have it blocked again.
- A giraffe at the Denver zoo gave birth to a calf to little fanfare (he’s still cute -- see the pics at the bottom of this story)
- And even a wallaby at April’s own zoo gave birth
None of this has knocked April off the top of the headlines.
When she finally does give birth, you’ll have about 20 minutes warning. The 6-foot, 150-pound calf will come out hooves-first (ouch). April will give birth standing, and the calf will be caught by zoo keepers.
It will be a magical moment.
We’re waiting (sort of) patiently.
The zoo said they'll hold an online contest to name the calf.
And in case you’re curious, here’s Oliver, the father of the calf:
ANOTHER CUTE GIRAFFE: Dobby | Denver Zoo's baby giraffe
