Giraffetastic
New Member
We’re gathering ideas and inspiration for an upcoming discussion on outdoor spaces, and I’d love to hear who’s really knocking it out of the park.
What facility has the best outdoor giraffe enclosure?
- Thread starter Giraffetastic
- Start date
Within Europe, the best I've seen would have to be Paris Zoological Park's Sahel-Soudan, Zoo Praha's African Savanna, Budapest's Savanna House had an interesting layout/setup alongside some really inventive fence designs. Vienna's Giraffe Park's outdoor portion was average, but the indoor facility was fantastic, and Zoo Antwerpen's savanna setup is decent for a city zoo. ARTIS' setup was actually quite spacious for a city zoo setting!
I would suggest Gaia zoo in the Netherlands and Planckendael in Belgium that haven't been mentioned. The amount of possible feeding stations is important and both these zoos have a lot of option to attach browse to Gaia with fake rock sides and Planckendael with the seperation enclosure of the bull. Planckendael also has some shade with large protected trees. Certain oral enrichment feeding stations might increase welfare. A view outside the enclosure can lead to increased welfare. Choice is also important so an off show enclosure or visual barriers in the enclosure are preferred. Finally think about the substrate you use preferably more than 1 to reduce the need for hoof care.
I would suggest you take a look at this paper https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5636/4/3/39 and the EAZA Husbandry and Management Guidelines.
I would suggest you take a look at this paper https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5636/4/3/39 and the EAZA Husbandry and Management Guidelines.
In Australia the Monarto zoo would be by far the largest Giraffe exhibit area and perhaps one of the largest in the zoo world, The new wild Africa is over 1500 acres an absolutely massive area, The Giraffes don't have full range over that entire area but it would still be a very large area with over 20 of them