Giraffe breaks record with birth of 18th calf

Mother giraffe, Jang-Soon, top, rubs her calf at the park in Yongin (AP)

A giraffe has set a world record by giving birth to her 18th calf, at the Samsung Everland safari park just outside Seoul.

Jang-Soon had shared the record of 17 calves born in captivity with a giraffe at Paris zoo, that died in 2005. Other giraffes in Melbourne and San Diego had 16 offspring.

The birth on Sunday came on Jang-Soon’s 27th birthday. Giraffes have an average life expectancy of 25 years, although captive giraffes live longer.

She belongs to an endangered subspecies, the reticulated giraffe. There are fewer than 5,000 of them living in the wild.

AP