The Indianapolis Zoo welcomed the latest member of their family back on November 8, 2020 - a sweet little male reticulated giraffe calf. Okay, 'little' is a relative term. Sure, he's little compared to other giraffes, standing 6-feet-tall and weighing in at nearly 140 pounds, the calf has got to be one of the bigger babies at the zoo. Regardless, baby animals are just plain cute, big or small. Following the successful birth, zoo officials needed to name the little cutie - for that, they turned to the public.

The zoo invited folks to visit their Facebook page and vote on one of three possible names - Kendi, Tumaini or Zan. People from all across the United States, Canada and even the United Kingdom voted, and after two weeks and over 5,000 votes, the zoo announced today that the giraffe calf will now be named KENDI, an African name meaning 'loved one.'

Kendi is the baby boy of his 3-year-old mother, Kita, and his 10-year-old father, Majani. The addition of Kendi brings the Indianapolis Zoo's giraffe herd up to five, and comes just in time for them to head inside where they will spend most of the winter. The new family is expected to make their grand debut to the public debut in the spring.

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