Giraffe Asmara gave birth to Mzungu, which means ‘white one’ in Swahili.

Mzungu is the step-sister of newcomer Mivita and is unusually pale in comparison to her family.

Zookeeper Mark O’Riordan said Mzungu couldn’t have come at a better time.

“Kids from Queensland are now on school holidays, and next week school kids from New South Wales are on holidays, and they all love baby animals,” Mr O’Riordan said.

“Mzungu has had a rocky start to zoo life,” he said.

“Not long after she was born, she was accidentally kicked in the jaw by another animal. So the vets here had to work pretty hard overnight to make sure she was okay, and the next day she had a little belly and was suckling on her mother so it was all good in the end.”

Mr O’Riordan said the birth of Mzungu was incredible because it happened during the day, a rare event at the zoo.

“There were about 100 people looking at the giraffes that day, and before we could realise what was happening the entire crowd cheered at Asmara giving birth,” he said.

The currently nameless baby zebra was born on Sunday to Kioni, one of the most maternal zebras at the zoo enclosure.

Senior zookeeper Carolene Magner said the zoo had many calls about the baby zebra, worried that she was dead.

“The baby likes to play dead, and it is natural for new-borns to laze about in the sun until feeding time,” Ms Magner said.

“Kioni is very maternal, and is a somewhat mother figure to another female zebra, Sera,” she said.

“The newborn is very shy and likes to hide behind her mother a lot. All the zebras seem to go to Kioni for affection, as she likes to play the matriarch of the zebras.”