Photo by Jen Zoon/National Zoo

You know what you don’t see everyday at the National Zoo? A live birth! But that’s what some visitors got to watch yesterday when Adara, a Dama gazelle, went into labor in front of an onlooking crowd.

About 2:30 p.m. yesterday, Adara gave birth to a baby gazelle right in the middle of the pen she shares with the National Zoo’s male Dama gazelle, Raul. Dama gazelles, native to the Sahara Desert, are extremely endangered; it is estimated there are only 500 specimens in the wild, according to a zoo press release.

After being born, the baby gazelle, a male, struggled to climb up on its feet and take its first steps. There were many pratfalls, with maybe one or two successful steps. Adara and the baby gazelle were eventually removed from the exhibit and will be out of public view for the next few weeks as they bond.

In the mean time, watch this hilarious video of a baby gazelle falling all over itself: