Last month, Beyoncé shattered a Guinness World Record for most-liked image on Instagram when she announced – with intimate, belly-bearing photos – that she was pregnant.

It became one of the most obsessed-over, closely monitored celebrity pregnancies in recent memory. But now, it seems as though a mother-to-be in upstate New York may be close to upstaging her.

Her name is April, and she is a giraffe. Her home is in Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville, New York.

Watching her get up, sit down, move left, move right, stand and sit down again would seem to be a lot less interesting than watching Beyoncé.

Still, hundreds of thousands of people have been watching the zoo’s live video stream, night and day, as April goes about her business in her hay-strewn stall. Her mate, Oliver, lives in an adjacent pen.

All this sounds innocent enough.

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But that didn’t stop someone from complaining to YouTube that it was “sexually explicit” content with nudity, prompting YouTube to take down the live stream on Feb. 23.

The park owner was incensed. In a video posted on the zoo’s Facebook page, Jordan Patch blamed “a handful of extremists and animal rights activists.”

In the 12 hours before it was removed, the live “giraffe cam” YouTube video stream had gotten more than 20 million views, Patch said. As is often the case, the censorship attracted headlines and got more people watching April.

The video stream was soon allowed back up, and now even more viewers are keenly awaiting April’s much-anticipated labor. She’s about a month overdue, Patch said in a Facebook update Wednesday. He added that the initial timeline for the birth – based on April’s breeding behavior – may have been slightly off.

“She’s large, she’s still in charge, and no baby yet,” the zoo said in the post. The giraffe had not experienced much physical change that day, but there was significant movement once again in the belly, and the approaching cold front might “shake things up,” the post said.

“The world waits on edge … and April smirks with a mouthful of cud,” the zoo wrote in its post.

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When born, the calf will weigh about 150 pounds, will be about 6 feet tall, and will leave its mother with its front hooves out first, followed by its snout, according to the zoo.

The zoo is accepting submissions for naming the calf but, Patch insisted, the contest will not be completed until the calf is born. “We’re a little superstitious,” Patch said. “You don’t count your chickens before they hatch.”

In another Facebook video, the park owner addressed a number of concerns from viewers. For example, he said, many live-streamers have been worried about how long it takes for April to lower herself to sit down.

“Ladies out there,” Patch said. “If you’ve been nine months pregnant, and you’ve had to bend over and tie your shoes, it’s hard.”


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