Brianna Greco, Assistant Features Editor

As everyone awaits the birth of a new calf, many people are longing for responses to unanswered questions. What is taking so long?  Why hasn’t she had her baby yet?

The Animal Adventure Park located in Harpursville, New York has been providing a live steam to the public, for what seems like months now, for the opportunity to watch April the giraffe give birth to her calf in real time.

Toys”R”Us has been sponsoring the live feed since the beginning, aiming to be a part of this popular event and mostly utilizing the sponsorship as an advertising strategy for their multi-billion dollar company.

An article from Fortune stated, “We quickly became mesmerized (some might even say obsessed!) by #Aprilthegiraffe and we’re thrilled to join the millions of people from around the world who had been watching the live video feed from the Animal Adventure Park,” Amy von Walter, a spokesperson for Toys “R” Us, tells Fortune in an email. “Our team reached out to the Zoo and we were able to agree on a sponsorship immediately.”

The Animal Adventure Park has stated that giraffes are pregnant for 15 months on average – a period of time said to be too long for most giraffe enthusiasts.

The page also stated, “April is 15 years old and on her fourth calf. April has never lost a calf nor had a stillborn. The calf will weigh around 150 pounds and will be about 6-feet tall at birth.”

Many viewers of April’s live stream have expressed their concerns of the giraffe being kept in a small stall for most of her pregnancy.

Dr. Buchanan, Professor of Biology, stated, “All zoological parks, whether public or private, have space limitations and procedures for protecting animals that clearly inhibit their freedom and natural behavior. The larger the animal, the more obvious the limitation. But let’s not lose sight of the big picture. “

Buchanan went on to discuss the mission of zoological parks is to maintain the safety of species that may be endangered or on the road to extinction.

“The mission of zoological parks is to educate the public about wildlife and to conserve genetic diversity of species facing extinction,” Buchanan said. “Without zoos, many of the species that humans find endearing would probably already be extinct. Zoos educate the public about biodiversity and the need to set aside natural habitat to conserve species in nature.”

Aside from April’s well-being, some individuals are also outraged by how long they have been watching the live stream and have even stated how they are starting to think she is not even pregnant.

Junior Georganne Jadhon stated, “I was starting to think she wasn’t even pregnant because of how long it is taking her to give birth. I didn’t learn until a little bit after watching the video that giraffes can be pregnant for up to 16 months.”

Others have been losing sleep over watching the “giraffe cam” to make sure they don’t miss April giving birth.

“I watched the live stream for two hours one night. I finally had to put my phone down to get some work done,” junior Amanda Taurisano said.

When asked if she was going to continue watching the stream she stated, “I will pull the video up once in awhile, but at this point I am just going to wait to see a news headline saying she has given birth, since this has been all the craze.”

April the giraffe definitely has been all the craze, capturing the attention of media outlets and individual people all around the world. Within the next few weeks the world will know the answer to the most important question yet: Is it a boy or a girl?