A baby reticulated giraffe (Giraffa reticulata) at Tanganyika Wildlife Park in Kansas continues to beat the odds following an emergency C-section. The baby girl named Milani is officially standing up, laying down, and even pooping on her own, milestones that seemed almost impossible following her te nuous entrance into the world. Milani’s story Earlier this month, veterinarians performed an emergency C-section on Milani’s mother Virtue. The mother’s organs began shutting down while she was still pregnant, and there was no way for veterinarians to save her. But there was still a chance that her unborn calf could survive. The team carried out a terminal cesarean section—an operation in which the mother does not survive. Virtue was sedated, the calf was pulled out, and then she was humanely euthanized.  “Every giraffe neonatal specialist and veterinarian we consulted told us they had never heard of a premature giraffe delivered this way surviving. And yet… She took her first breath,” the wildlife park wrote in a social media post.  Mother giraffes usually give birth while standing, and the newborn’s fall (which can be up to six feet down) triggers its first breath and helps break the umbilical cord. The calf then usually stands up within five to 20 minutes and nurses within the first hour. Without its mother’s first milk, called colostrum, the calf doesn’t have its own functional immune system. This lack of immunity was Milani’s main problem in those first few days.  Round the clock care The calf is now being taken care of around the clock. The team is giving her plasma to fill in for her lacking maternal antibodies, a managed feeding regimen, in addition to consistent bloodwork, temperature, hydration, and glucose monitoring. She also has at least two people with her all the time.  The park has been providing updates on social media, with one revealing that shortly after her birth they had to stabilize the calf’s temperature and give her supplemental oxygen.   On July 25, the park announced that her name is Milani, which means “new birth” or “new era,”  The name also honors Mili, the giraffe whose donated plasma helped save her life. The zoo’s giraffe herd has also been taking turns peeking in on her. “Part of having and caring for animals is losing them, but it’s rare that you get the opportunity to save one at the same time. It’s incredible to see people come together to do the unthinkable,” Matt Fouts, Director at Tanganyika Wildlife Park, said in a statement earlier this month. “Our team and all the experts we have consulted have fully embraced our Refuse to Lose core value and invested their time and talent to give this calf the best chance of survival.”  The post Premature baby giraffe keeps beating the odds after emergency C-section appeared first on Popular Science. ...read more read less