Sukari, a Masai giraffe at Roger Williams Park Zoo, eclipses her unnamed newborn.

The Providence Journal / John Freidah

PROVIDENCE — A holiday gift arrived early at the Roger Williams Park Zoo last week. It was delivered neither by Santa nor by stork, but by a Masai giraffe named Sukari.

On the Monday before Christmas, after zookeepers had gone home, video monitors picked up signs that Sukari was about to drop her calf. By the time zookeepers got to the enclosure, Sukari was already cleaning her new arrival, and within an hour, the female calf was on her feet, nursing successfully.

So the announcement might read: Sukari, 15, and Griffin, 19, are the parents of Baby -?-, born about 6:30 p.m., Dec. 22, 2008, weighing 90 to 95 pounds and measuring 5 feet 6 inches.

Jen Warmbold, lead keeper in the Textron Elephant and Giraffe Pavilion, guessed that the baby weighs less than the average giraffe newborn — 125 to 140 pounds. It is a little smaller than average. No one’s going to lift her onto a scale –– they’re trying to keep her life as close as possible to that of a wild giraffe.

“Our baby giraffes are not our own,” said Ben Sibielski, a press aide for the zoo, in explaining why the newborn doesn’t have a name.

Zoo spokeswoman Jan Mariani said 80 Masai giraffes in North America are carefully managed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to ensure a healthy, genetically diverse population. Calves stay with their mothers for a year, then are sent to another zoo. Naming rights for the Roger Williams newborn probably will be enjoyed by her next home.

Sukari and Griffin have produced three other calves — Naivasha, in 2000; Imara, in 2002, and M’Tembei, in 2007. M’Tembei was born outside on a Saturday in May, in full view of everyone, and the event was captured on video.

At five days old, this baby stands about as tall as her mother’s front legs, and for her public debut on Saturday she was already a star.

Eight women in red jackets beamed like first-time grandmothers. “We’re docents,” they said. “We’re controlling the crowd,” one explained. “We ARE the crowd,” another said.

For most of a rainy Saturday afternoon they outnumbered zoo-goers and chorused “awww” each time mother and baby nuzzled. Some were posted to greet visitors and suggest that they be quiet, but construction workers were raising a racket in the adjoining elephant exhibit. They welded, pounded and backed up in heavy equipment that beeped, none of which bothered the new family in the slightest.

“She’s a calm giraffe,” Warmbold observed of Sukari.

With some carrot slices and a handful of grain, Keeper Rachel McClung tempted Sukari toward the cables that separate giraffes from humans. Mulberry branches loosely woven vertically through the horizontal cables seemed to serve as a visual screen, but Warmbold said it was their way of babyproofing the exhibit. Calves, she said, have slipped between the cables.

Between staring at the people staring at her, or noticing the sparrows that popped in and out, or connecting with her mother’s milk, the dainty calf practiced her paces: walk, gallop, prance. Still eluding her, apparently, was the trick to folding all those legs into a kneeling position for rest, but she occasionally managed. Warmbold said giraffes need plenty of rest but only about five minutes of sleep a night.

Longtime season pass holders Don and Gina Conde were thrilled to see the baby. Don, 49, said he has visited the zoo every day for three weeks, hoping to see a birth. They gushed over the new arrival.

“When we come to the zoo, we feel like little kids again,” he said. They came as children with their parents. Then they brought their children. Now they’re bringing grandchildren.

The Condes might yet see a calf being born. There is speculation that Amber, an adult female two years older than Sukari, is pregnant, also by Griffin. Warmbold thinks that after observing Griffin.

“I go by Griffy,” Warmbold said. “He’s never wrong.”

For more information and coming events, including New Year’s Day Zoo Thousand and Nine free admission, visit www.rogerwilliamsparkzoo.org. To follow progress on the zoo’s major construction projects, visit www.thenewzoo.org/newzoo.

dnaylor@projo.com