This week’s cuteness towers over all others

We hope Monday isn’t towering over you like this week’s cute animal — baby giraffes. Yes, it’s not often we’re covering cute babies that are literally taller than most people, but at the two week old mark, this critter was zooming towards six and a half feet tall and counting.

The yet-unnamed baby boy was born around August 1, 2025 to parents Nakuru and Klintun at the Melbourne Zoo in Victoria, Australia, part of the Zoos Victoria conservation organization. He is the first giraffe calf born at this zoo in almost 20 years, and to a first-time mom, at that! What a way to enter the world.

The zoo recently held a vote amongst their members and supporters on what to name the calf from three special Swahili choices:

• Tambi – “noodle” was the winner!
• Tamu – “sweet”
• Enzi – “power” or “might”

The voting just wrapped up, and the zoo announced the results in their next weekly news wrap-up. In the interim, the not-so-little one spent his first couple weeks in privacy, bonding with mom Naraku, and while he’s still acclimating to the zoo’s weather, he was ready to quite literally race into the world:

Did you know baby giraffes got the zoomies? I didn’t. But apparently this new calf decided the best way to experience their expanding world, from barn to habitat, at speed. The zookeepers describe him as a “typical toddler,” getting into things he shouldn’t, putting everything in his mouth, and forming a personality, and anticipate him being a “bit of a terror” when he hits adolescence.

Now, while giraffes are not the most endangered of species that we’ve talked about here on Blizzard Watch, they are still assessed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Giraffes are assumed to live for about 25 years in the wild, and slightly longer in captivity (although this estimate is under reassessment). Like many species, their population in the wild is decreasing as their savanna habitats are converted for agriculture and they become casualties to human threats like local unrest and even war.

To keep up to date on the giraffe calf, follow the Melbourne Zoo on the Zoos Victoria social network accounts: Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube.