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High art: Watch April the Giraffe paint a masterpiece

Remember the mama giraffe/webcam star who gave birth on YouTube? She's now sticking her neck out to try a new career -- painter.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
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Gael Cooper
2 min read

April the Giraffe was the toast of YouTube back in 2017, when the resident of Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville, New York delivered her calf online while 500,000 viewers watched.

April's baby boy, Tajiri, will be a year old on April 15, and his mama has found herself a new career -- artist.

Every Tuesday in March, April (with a little help from head giraffe keeper Allysa Swilley) smears some paint on a canvas, encouraged by carrot treats. You can watch the video of her latest attempt here.

"Does the red and black give away that we're @njdevils fans?" Swilley wrote on Instagram. "This is one of my biggest career accomplishments to date. Getting April (to) not only hold a paintbrush but to also put that paintbrush to a canvas has been a very long and sometimes very frustrating journey. I learned some more patience, she learned how to paint, and now we are making masterpieces together! Art with April is my own personal success. Here's to more training success in the future. Make sure you check us out live every Tuesday at 1. Many more pieces to come."

The finished April artworks are then sold via auction on the park's Facebook page. The highest bid for Tuesday's painting was $2,275. The Facebook page notes that "funds raised will support the continued mission of Animal Adventure Park; conservation through education." It also says that the supplies used are "non-toxic, kid-safe paints."

While April only paints Tuesdays at 1 p.m. ET, the giraffe cam is up 24-7 at aprilthegiraffe.com.