A NEW giraffe has arrived at Colchester Zoo.

A NEW giraffe has arrived at Colchester Zoo.

The young giraffe is called Century in honour of the fact that he was the 100th giraffe to be born at Longleat Safari park in south-west England.

The two-year-old has now joined the Essex zoo's two other giraffes, Kofie and Edmund.

A spokeswoman for the zoo said: “Despite his young age he is a very confident and friendly little giraffe who already enjoys joining in with the public feeds three times a day.

“The arrival of the new giraffe is a very exciting landmark for Colchester Zoo as Century is a new sub-species of giraffe that will one day make breeding giraffes possible at Colchester Zoo.

“Century is a Rothschild or Baringo giraffe, which is the most endangered sub-species of giraffe.

“There are thought to be just a few hundred pure Rothschild giraffes living in the wild and all of these live in protected parks across Uganda and Kenya.

“Colchester Zoo would therefore be very honoured to be able to house and protect a breeding group of Rothschild giraffes to support the breeding programme that they belong to.

“It is very much hoped that in the near future a female Rothschild can move into the collection to join Century, when they will be able to form a new breeding pair and start a new breeding line in the carefully constructed breeding programme.”