HOUSTON - While the world waits for April the giraffe in New York to give birth, the Houston Zoo announced its own baby Masai giraffe was born this week.

Zoo officials say after a 2-hour labor, mom Tyra gave birth to a yet-to-be-named calf at 9:04 a.m. Monday in the McGovern Giraffe Barn at the African Forest.

The Houston Zoo says mom and calf are doing well and are bonding behind the scenes with a keeper and veterinary teams watching over them. The new calf is expected make her public debut in a few days.

At birth, a newborn Masai giraffe calf typically weighs between 125 and 150 pounds and is approximately six feet tall. In the last decade, the number of giraffes in the wild dropped by 40 percent with less than 80,000 giraffes remaining. The Houston Zoo currently has six Masai giraffes.