Giraffes in Major American Zoos

[snowleopard]

The book that I cowrote, titled America’s Top 100 Zoos & Aquariums, contains reviews and photos of 80 zoos and 20 aquariums. There are 71 out of the 80 zoos that currently display giraffes, which demonstrates the popularity of that animal.

The 9 zoos that do not have giraffes:

Akron (giraffes are due to be added in the next few years)
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
Central Park
John Ball
Little Rock (had giraffes until 2014 and they are due to be added back in a few years)
Minnesota
Point Defiance
Rosamond Gifford Zoo (giraffes are in the zoo’s current Master Plan)
Smithsonian’s National Zoo

As you can see, in the near future there could well be 74 out of the 80 major American zoos with giraffes. It would be a bit odd to see the ‘National’ zoo still lacking the species and so maybe that will be another location that will see the addition of giraffes. They haven't had any in 15 years.

Giraffes are ubiquitous in American zoos. Even small, obscure facilities quite often have a giraffe or two walking around in a paddock, and the cost of maintaining a giraffe is nowhere near as expensive as an elephant. At the Wildlife Learning Center, near Los Angeles, they do not have giraffes but there is at least one next door on someone's private farm. They're everywhere!

I'll provide some examples of obscure zoos with giraffes. I’ve personally toured all 10 of these little-visited American zoos and ALL of them have giraffes:

Arbuckle Wilderness
Bayou Wildlife Zoo
B. Bryan Preserve
Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park
Franklin Drive Thru Safari
Gone Wild Safari
Hillcrest Park Zoo
Indian Creek Zoo
Lion Habitat Ranch
Timbavati Wildlife Park

There are plenty of spacious, impressive giraffe exhibits in American zoos. I made a list of notable giraffe enclosures and then had a heck of a time eliminating half of them to come up with a dozen favourites. Zoos like Bronx and Brookfield have scenic outdoor paddocks, Fort Wayne is lush, Detroit has a massive barn, Tanganyika maintains up to 15 giraffes at a time, but none of those made the cut. I think that at least 10 of the giraffe exhibits on my list are mixed-species habitats, which is always a treat for a zoo visitor.

My favourite 12 giraffe exhibits in American zoos (alphabetical ranking):

Binder Park
Cheyenne Mountain
Columbus
Dallas
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Living Desert
Nashville
North Carolina
Omaha
Phoenix
San Diego Zoo Safari Park
San Francisco

 

[Arizona Docent]

They are ubiquitous because they are easy going and large and unique. The public loves large animals. I agree with your list of good exhibits and I am surprised to find I have seen nine of the twelve myself. (I will see a tenth - North Carolina - next month).

Giraffe feeding (by the public) has also become a cash cow for zoos and is now almost expected.

AZA facilities (and perhaps others) freely trade animals. It's not quite free, of course, because the receiving institution has to pay shipping fees which I imagine are expensive because there are only a few companies that specialize in exotic animal transport. Years ago I learned that when my zoo in Tucson shipped a giraffe a hundred miles up the freeway to Phoenix, they had to ship it while it was still relatively young becuase if it got older it would be too tall to fit under the freeway bridges.

Private facilities that have to buy giraffes from breeders or other zoos need deep pockets. At least ten years ago (maybe more) I heard the owner of a private wildlife park say (at that time) a male giraffe cost forty thousand dollars and a female giraffe cost a hundred thousand dollars.

 

[DavidBrown]

Akron (giraffes are due to be added in the next few years)
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
Central Park
John Ball
Little Rock (had giraffes until 2014 and they are due to be added back in a few years)
Minnesota
Point Defiance
Rosamond Gifford Zoo (giraffes are in the zoo’s current Master Plan)
Smithsonian’s National Zoo

Most of these zoos as you note had or will have giraffes. Central Park Zoo historically had giraffes before the 1980s complete rebuild of that zoo. Little Rock and Smithsonian National Zoos had giraffes for decades and likely will again when they can build new exhibits for them. Minnesota Zoo has had giraffes as "guest animals" in a temporary exhibit and had plans for a giraffe exhibit in their past master plan (and maybe will in the future?).

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum of course will never have giraffes because they focus only on native species of their region, but the neighboring Reid Park Zoo in Tucson has them. The same dynamic reigns in the Tacoma-Seattle region where the Point Defiance Zoo has left African megafauna to the neighboring Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle.

The John Ball Zoo is a giraffe-less curiosity, as they once planned to get elephants, but apparently not giraffes.

 

[evilmonkey239]

Most of these zoos as you note had or will have giraffes. Central Park Zoo historically had giraffes before the 1980s complete rebuild of that zoo. Little Rock and Smithsonian National Zoos had giraffes for decades and likely will again when they can build new exhibits for them. Minnesota Zoo has had giraffes as "guest animals" in a temporary exhibit and had plans for a giraffe exhibit in their past master plan (and maybe will in the future?).

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum of course will never have giraffes because they focus only on native species of their region, but the neighboring Reid Park Zoo in Tucson has them. The same dynamic reigns in the Tacoma-Seattle region where the Point Defiance Zoo has left African megafauna to the neighboring Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle.

The John Ball Zoo is a giraffe-less curiosity, as they once planned to get elephants, but apparently not giraffes.

I’m guessing that was a while ago, because I doubt they’d have room to build an elephant habitat that would meet modern AZA standards. Same would probably apply to giraffes.

 

[ZCChip]

It would be hard to transport an adult giraffe. I always wondered how circuses managed.

 

[Kudu21]

It would be hard to transport an adult giraffe. I always wondered how circuses managed.

I’ve been a part of quite a few adult giraffe transfers (including one very large bull), and they’re not as tricky as people would like to think (it’s usually the getting them on the trailer that’s the hardest part). There are specially designed trailers for transporting giraffe that have a hydraulic roof. The roof is lowered once the animals are inside so that they can fit under more overpasses, this, of course, forces the animals to lower their heads, which in turn also acts to help stabilize them during transport because it more evenly distributes their body weight.

 

[ZCChip]

I’ve been a part of quite a few adult giraffe transfers (including one very large bull), and they’re not as tricky as people would like to think (it’s usually the getting them on the trailer that’s the hardest part). There are specially designed trailers for transporting giraffe that have a hydraulic roof. The roof is lowered once the animals are inside so that they can fit under more overpasses, this, of course, forces the animals to lower their heads, which in turn also acts to help stabilize them during transport because it more evenly distributes their body weight.

That’s interesting. That makes sense about the weight distribution The average overpass height is 17 feet. Bulls can be 19 feet. How big is the trailer stall?

 

[Kudu21]

That’s interesting. That makes sense about the weight distribution The average overpass height is 17 feet. Bulls can be 19 feet. How big is the trailer stall?

It depends on the trailer— they’re all custom made, so there are variations depending on the shipper. I’ve seen trailers with stall dividers parallel to the trailer walls and I’ve seen trailers that only have dividers parallel to the trailer door. The former makes for smaller stalls that restricts movement more and allows for more animals to be shipped at once, while the the latter provides a little bit more room for the animal to turn around and lie down— in my experience, the latter is more common, but I’ve also seen some newer ones that allow for both. Either way, you don’t want to provide too much room for the animals to hurt themselves while still providing them enough room to be comfortable. I’ve shipped multiple young adult males in the smaller stalls, I’ve shipped adult males singularly in the bigger stalls, I’ve shipped adult females singularly in the smaller stalls and bigger stalls, and I’ve shipped two pairs of mothers and calves in the same trailer in bigger stalls. It really just depends on the trailer and the needs of the animal. Giraffe are usually a little bit smarter in transport than other hoofstock species, so you don’t usually have to restrict their space as much as you do for some species. Sometimes the really big males need to be shipped alone anyways because their necks will reach into multiple stalls when the roof is lowered.

 

[ZCChip]

It depends on the trailer— they’re all custom made, so there are variations depending on the shipper. I’ve seen trailers with stall dividers parallel to the trailer walls and I’ve seen trailers that only have dividers parallel to the trailer door. The former makes for smaller stalls that restricts movement more and allows for more animals to be shipped at once, while the the latter provides a little bit more room for the animal to turn around and lie down— in my experience, the latter is more common, but I’ve also seen some newer ones that allow for both. Either way, you don’t want to provide too much room for the animals to hurt themselves while still providing them enough room to be comfortable. I’ve shipped multiple young adult males in the smaller stalls, I’ve shipped adult males singularly in the bigger stalls, I’ve shipped adult females singularly in the smaller stalls and bigger stalls, and I’ve shipped two pairs of mothers and calves in the same trailer in bigger stalls. It really just depends on the trailer and the needs of the animal. Giraffe are usually a little bit smarter in transport than other hoofstock species, so you don’t usually have to restrict their space as much as you do for some species. Sometimes the really big males need to be shipped alone anyways because their necks will reach into multiple stalls when the roof is lowered.

Thanks for the answer. I was curious because when we haul the horses we do prefer the slant load instead of straight version because of the weight distribution. The animals would lean on the sides as the trailer moves. Of course they do not move around as much. We wouldn’t want them to move around so much anyway.