But these Giraffes are not the kind with long necks and spots.

They are state-of-the-art intensive care humidicribs, used to care for critically-ill newborn babies, some of them delivered up to 16 weeks early.

Nurse unit manager Jenny King said the humidicribs were ``two beds in one'' and had revolutionised neonatal care.

``It's not that many years since we were nursing these babies in shoe boxes,'' she said.

``We've come a huge distance in nearly 40 years.''

The children's charity Kids West, which raised the $50,000 needed to buy the humidicrib, handed over the unit's 10th one on Thursday.

At the touch of a button, the crib can be raised or lowered to the correct height for medical and nursing staff attending to a baby.

It also has inbuilt humidifying and heating functions and equipment to monitor vital functions.

Major differences between the Giraffe and other cribs are the mechanism which allows the lid to be raised while maintaining the baby's body temperature during medical procedures and a mattress base that can swivel 360degrees.

Senior specialist Dr Marilyn Rochefort said that made working with the tiny patients much easier for staff and safer and more comfortable for the babies.