Everland Unveils Giraffe 'Maru' in Celebration of World Giraffe Day

Everland, operated by Samsung C&T Resort Division, revealed the name and photos of the baby giraffe 'Maru,' born in the ecological safari Lost Valley, on social media platforms such as Instagram and YouTube for the first time on the 21st, in celebration of World Giraffe Day.

The star, Maru, is a male baby giraffe born on the 29th of last month to father Seven (born in 2007) and mother Hanul (born in 2009). Born at about 190cm, he has grown healthily, already surpassing 2 meters in height just over 20 days after birth.

Baby giraffe 'Maru' and mother giraffe 'Hanul' living in Everland's ecological safari Lost Valley.

The name Maru, a pure Korean word meaning "sky," carries the hope that he will become the leader of the giraffes. The name was chosen through customer participation on Everland Zoo’s Naver Cafe 'Zootopia' over about a week starting from the 12th.

Currently, Maru is living and growing indoors with his mother Hanul and is scheduled to be publicly exhibited in Lost Valley in early August.

World Giraffe Day was established in 2014 by the international Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF) to encourage joint efforts to prevent the extinction of wild giraffes. June 21, the summer solstice and the longest day of the year, was designated as World Giraffe Day to honor the giraffe with the longest neck. Currently, there are only about 80,000 giraffes left in the wild.

Meanwhile, the day before, Everland Zoo conducted giraffe conservation activities with visitors at Lost Valley. Following explanations by the zookeepers about the importance of giraffe protection and their ecology, various programs were held for the giraffes, including visitors placing food such as carrots, Swiss chard, and cabbage into feeding balls and hanging them high for the giraffes to reach.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.