Is April The Giraffe Really Pregnant? Conspiracy Theories Float As Calf's Birth Delays

The Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville, New York set up a live stream to document April the giraffe’s pregnancy in February, making her an instant Internet celebrity.

The giraffe was expected to finish her gestation period - a usual giraffe pregnancy last between 13-15 months – later in the same month and give birth to her calf, but almost two months later there has been no sign of April going into active labor.

With over 100,000 viewers watching the YoutTube live stream set up by the upstate New York zoo at any given, some are growing impatient because of the prolonged delay. This has given rise to a number of theories about why April still hasn’t given birth, with some “conspiracy theorists” going to the extent of claiming that she may not even be pregnant.

As the zoo benefits tremendously despite it being off-season, here are some of the widely claimed conspiracy theories:

The pregnancy is a hoax

As viewers spend hours on their screens, looking into April’s enclosure, some are wondering whether the giraffe is even pregnant. With the mid-February due date long gone, their doubts are growing bigger.

April Fools’ Day joke

Earlier this month, social media was flooded with speculation that the entire episode, which has engaged millions of people across the world, may have just been an elaborate April Fools’ Day prank. However, with no revelation coming on April 1, the theory was debunked.

The live stream is on repeat

The YouTube live stream has no time codes to show whether viewers are watching the pregnant giraffe in real-time, giving rise to the conspiracy theory that the video may have been played on loop, deceiving viewers.

Watch the live stream here.

It’s a social experiment

A few disillusioned viewers went to the extent of saying that it may not be what it looks like. Twitter user Michael Cheek posted on the website, “At this point I’m confident this giraffe pregnancy is just a social experiment.”

April has already given birth

Over a week of April is over without April showing signs of going into active labor. This has causes some anxious viewers to deduce that the giraffe may have already given birth during one of the occasions when the zoo’s live stream cameras went down.

It’s just a marketing gimmick by the zoo

With the Animal Adventure Park landing a sponsorship deal with Toys R Us, many skeptics are wondering whether the entire pregnancy has been a part of the zoo’s marketing strategy.

An evil genius is trying to take over the world

A more creative, or some may say delusional, conspiracy theory is that this has been a ploy by an evil genius who wants to distract the world while he attempts a takeover.

A Reddit user elaborated, “ What if April the giraffe isn’t actually pregnant, and it was all just an elaborate scheme by some evil genius somewhere to get thousands of people around the world to stare at a giraffe’s bum for hours and argue back and forth? He’s just sitting in his lair somewhere… plotting while the world is distracted. Months from now, a sign will appear in front of the camera: ‘we just playin… u mad bro?’ Chaos and disorder will follow, and phase two, world domination will take place.”