News for North Texas

Nameless No More: Meet 'Kopano,' The Dallas Zoo's Giraffe

Chrystal and baby Kopano will stay indoors until the little one is big enough to join the 12-member giraffe herd.
The Dallas Zoo

After two weeks without a name, the public has chosen the moniker for the Dallas Zoo's new giraffe. 

Online voters chose "Kopano," which means "united" in the Tswana language of Botswana. An anonymous bidder bought the naming rights to Kopano and left the final choice up to the public. 

Kopano's birth was announced Oct. 29. The giraffe is already 6 feet tall and weighs 120 pounds. The newborn is a reticulated giraffe, which according to the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, is a species with fewer than 4,700 left in the wild.

Watch Kopano bond with his mother, Chrystal: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qNmQ4RVO_Q

The last giraffe calf born at the Dallas Zoo in 2011.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Former KERA staffer Krystina Martinez was an assistant producer. She produced local content for Morning Edition and KERANews.org. She also produced The Friday Conversation, a weekly series of conversations with North Texas newsmakers. Krystina was also the backup newscaster for the Texas Standard.