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April The Giraffe An April Fool’s Day Joke? Conspiracy Theories Still Abound

By Lorenzo Tanos
Published on: 21:43 PST, Mar 29, 2017

Will April the Giraffe’s baby be born on April Fool’s Day? Stranger things have happened, but with two days to go before pranksters around the world celebrate their favorite “holiday,” there seems to be a solid chance that Animal Adventure Park’s beloved female giraffe will be giving birth on April 1. There are also talks that the whole April thing may be an elaborate hoax, but while AAP’s latest update does clearly say “keep on laughing,” all signs point to the eventuality of April giving birth being a legitimate event.

UPDATED 12:20 p.m. ET: Included latest April the Giraffe update as of Thursday morning.

For those who aren’t aware, April is a 15-year-old giraffe currently housed in Animal Adventure Park, and she’s been expected to give birth to her fourth calf since February 2017, with a five-year-old male giraffe named Oliver being the so-called “baby daddy.” As April had likely become pregnant in late 2015, AAP officials believe they may have been a bit off with their predictions – according to a report from the Express, the giraffe gestation period usually lasts 14 to 15 months.

“The timeline is obviously wrong, a little bit wrong,” Animal Adventure Park owner Jordan Patch said earlier this month, as quoted by the Express.

Despite that statement, many have taken to social media to posit that April the Giraffe is an April Fool’s joke – a very long, drawn-out, and elaborate one. A report from the Atlanta Journal Constitution compiled several tweets from users cracking wise about how the internet may have been duped all along by the April phenomenon. But if you consider her name, the timing of her pregnancy, and all the massive hype, are these ostensibly snarky Twitter users on to something?

Although a more recent report from Mashable stressed that the April the Giraffe April Fool’s joke idea is a “conspiracy theory,” the publication noted that it may be more than coincidence that Animal Adventure Park’s viral giraffe is named April, and likely to give birth within the next few days, or maybe the next few hours. Should it be nothing more than a prank, it could potentially be “massive,” due to the AAP giraffe cam’s widespread viewership. But prank or not, the April the Giraffe phenomenon has helped the Harpursville, N.Y. zoo attract some high-profile sponsors, with Toys ‘R’ Us leading the way and showing up on the bottom left of the live stream.

Speaking of conspiracy theories, Click on Detroit quoted a Redditor called “tennsoundguy” who posted a wild theory suggesting that April’s pregnancy may be a ploy to distract people from other issues by having them “stare at a giraffe’s bum for hours.”

“What if April the giraffe isn’t actually pregnant, and it was all just an elaborate scheme by some evil genius somewhere to get thousands of people around the world to stare at a giraffe’s bum for hours and argue back and forth? He’s just sitting in his lair somewhere… plotting while the world is distracted. Months from now, a sign will appear in front of the camera: ‘we just playin… u mad bro?’ Chaos and disorder will follow, and phase two, world domination will take place…”

On the other hand, other Twitter users have suggested that the pregnancy may be a “social experiment” of sorts.

However, anyone who’s been paying close attention to Animal Adventure Park’s regular April the Giraffe updates on Facebook could argue that April’s pregnancy is serious business. Even with the new “Taco Induction” update starting off with the words “keep on laughing,” it’s merely a reference to how park owner Jordan Patch, veterinarian “Dr. Tim,” and other AAP employees are maintaining their sense of humor throughout it all. And it might not be long before we see a giraffe calf pop out of April the Giraffe – an April Fool’s Day baby, perhaps? Dr. Tim isn’t saying, and it’s impossible to accurately predict, but the wait might not be that much longer.

“Ok Gang… if you have been watching today, you should start getting excited… we are seeing almost all the signs of birth happening within the coming days.”

A more recent April the Giraffe update from this morning further adds to the anticipation, as Animal Adventure Park wrote that April’s appetite has been “so-so” as the “calf countdown” continues.

Do you think April the Giraffe’s pregnancy is an April Fool’s joke, do you think it’s for real, and when do you think she may be giving birth to her fourth cub? Let us know in the comments, and keep coming back here for the latest updates on Animal Adventure Park’s viral sensation April.

[Featured Image by Warren Little/Getty Images]

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