Giants of the Savanna. I seriously thought this animal was a Rothschild, and ran right up to keepers to ask. I am intensely worried about hybridization of the two species.
Giants of the Savanna. I seriously thought this animal was a Rothschild, and ran right up to keepers to ask. I am intensely worried about hybridization of the two species.
That's definitely a Baringo Giraffe, or at least mostly one. Unfortunately, the AZA has decided to hybridize the two populations. The reasoning has been that there are no pure Reticulated Giraffes and very few pure Baringo Giraffes in the U.S. Personally I think this is a huge mistake and a huge shame, especially since it seems those two are distinct species, not subspecies.
I learned this sad fact myself back in October when Bronx, who mostly has a pure Baringo population, brought in a new male Reticulated hybrid.
The keeper swore to me it was a reticulated. And yes, his name is Tebogo. I couldn't quite remember it but knew it started with T. If it is a Rothschild, they yay for first mostly Rothschild, I saw a 1/16th somewhere. I really hope what pure populations there are keep them that way. I love the way Rothschild looks, so I was excited and crying at the same time when I saw him. jbnbsn99, do you know if he is reticulated or Rothschild primarily?
On another note- does anyone know about the bloodline of Masai giraffes? Are they to be hybridized or phased out? I kind of wish they would be the main species displayed so I don't cry watching my Rothschild's getting hybridized to nothing
The hybridization took place decades ago before anyone took notice of such things. As these animals will never be released into the wild, they serve as ambassador populations for their wild counterparts.
The Masai populations are all pure (held in Texas at Houston, Waco, and Lufkin).
More than likely not. Importation is a huge cost for an animal that is essentially well represented. It would take a private individual to do it and be several million in costs.
