Giraffe
This picture shows an unnamed new-born male giraffe (left) with his half-brother Dave at the Brookfield Zoo near Chicago, July 3, 2013. REUTERS/Jim Young

With a few days into April already passed and several weeks overdue, April the pregnant giraffe still has not gone into active labor. On Tuesday night, the upstate New York zoo that houses the animal posted an update on April’s condition.

“April continues to carry her great demeanor as you saw … today while cleaning the giraffe barn. She is big, udders are full, light discharge,” Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville, New York, said in an evening statement to its over 1.44 million Facebook followers.

Read: April The Giraffe Keeps Fans Waiting For Labor

“She looks, and is acting, great!” the update stated, without further information on the pregnant giraffe.

April has been pregnant for 15 months and the park said in February she was due to give birth by the end of that month or early March. For this, the park also set up a live stream allowing people to watch the 15-year-old giraffe giving birth. However, weeks have passed and there have been no signs of April going into labor.

In the morning update, the park said once April goes into active labor, she will not keep people waiting for hours for the birth of her fourth calf. It also said the giraffe’s belly continued to swell.

“Morning Keeper report is that April continues to ignore grain and back end swell is noticeably larger than day prior,” the park said in the morning update. “We, like many of you, sat up in bed or were inches from our screens a few times last night. She keeps us guessing. Rest assured, all is well, there is no distress, no pain — she is simply (but slowly) advancing. From what we have been told from prior facility — when she has her calves — she calves very quickly — which has us all on our toes as it is!”

A giraffe’s labor lasts anywhere between an hour to a full day after being pregnant for 15 to 16 months. A newborn calf weighs 150 pounds on average and is about 6 feet tall.

The latest offspring will be April's 5-year-old mate Oliver's first calf that will be named through a contest.

“Upon naturally weaning, the calf will move on to another facility to start a breeding program there. We cannot retain offspring, as it would lead to incestuous mating and undermine the genetics of the program and species,” the park said on its YouTube page.

Watch the live stream here.

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