I found these photos going through old family photo albums. Unfortunately there is no date on them. They would have been taken by my dad, best guess I can offer is early to mid 1990s.
Anyone remember the name of this giraffe and how long it was at the zoo for? I remember seeing a large dark giraffe every time I went as a kid. I also used to rent a Toronto Zoo VHS from the late 80's that had footage of a large almost black giraffe, perhaps the same one?
Yep this is none other than original male Cecil/Cedric. I think we called him Cedric. He arrived at the zoo for opening day. During his lifetime he fathered many calves. He sired every calf at the zoo until his death and Stripes arrival. He was the father of both Twiga and Ginetta and is Mstari's grandfather.
He is indeed the giraffe from your memories and the video. Male Masai giraffe tend to darken as they age and he took it to the extreme. He was always super dark, almost to the point where you couldn't make out his spots in the darkest areas.
Not a problem. We can at least say with full certainty they are no later than Nov 1991. I should check the gemsbok departure date to see if that helps to narrow it further.
