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New arrival is walking tall
High hopes for Woburn's new arrival
Meet Keira the giraffe, the first new arrival of 2010 at Woburn Safari Park.
Keira was born in the early hours of New Year's Day, and was so named because all
babies born at the park this year are given monickers beginning with the letter 'k'.
Her mum Frankie was born at Woburn in 2005, and Keira's arrival has been hailed as a sign of success by bosses at the park.
Dr Jake Veasey, Woburn's head of animal management and conservation, said: "We're very pleased to be welcoming Keira to Woburn so early into the New Year.
"We expect at least three or four more giraffe this year which will make us possibly the most successful breeder of these highly endangered and beautiful animals anywhere in the world."
Keira is a Rothschild Giraffe, a breed named after Lord Walter Rothschild who was the first to identify it as a new subspecies.
Unlike other giraffes Rothschild males have five horns (known as ossicones) on their head – two more than other species.
Population estimates for the number of Rothschild giraffe vary from just 40 to a couple of hundred in the wild.
In recent years Woburn has made a number of changes to its giraffe management programme. This has included the planting of 10,000 trees specifically to provide leaves for their giraffe herd based on ancient wildlife-friendly coppice management systems.
In the summer, leaves are collected from plantations on the 3,000 acre estate and fed to the giraffes. This means Woburn is the only zoo in Europe that can guarantee its giraffes a supply of fresh leaves 365 days a year.
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Weather for Biggleswade
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
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Temperature: 11 C to 22 C
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