Meet Toy, the newest baby giraffe at the Jerusalem Zoo

Born on the day Netta Barzilai won the Eurovision Song Contest, the newborn giraffe is named in honor of the winning Israeli song.
She's not your toy, despite her new name. The new-born baby giraffe called Toy at the Jerusalem Zoo. Photo by Yaara Forest Tamari
Toy and her mother at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo. Photo by Yaara Forest Tamari

A baby giraffe was born at the Tisch Family Zoological Gardens (Jerusalem Biblical Zoo) on May 12. Keepers decided to name her Toy because she arrived the same night Netta Barzilai won the Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon with the song “Toy.”

The 100-kilo (220-pound) newborn calf, standing 1.6 meters (5’2”), is resting in the giraffe house with her mother, Lila, before being introduced to the other animals in the Africa enclosure.

At the beginning of March, a baby giraffe nicknamed Mitzi was born to Maya, the Biblical Zoo’s first Israeli-born giraffe. Mitzi’s grandmother, Akiya, was brought to the zoo from South Africa.