Celebrating World Giraffe Day at the zoo
When Wellington Zoo’s herbivore keeper came back from monitoring giraffes in Namibia, she left a little bit of the capital city behind in Africa.
April Turnbull was on a trip with the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF) earlier this year and was able to name a newborn giraffe in the wild. ‘‘Wellington’’ was the obvious choice. Turnbull flew to Namibia to volunteer with the GCF and was in the field for two weeks, tracking and identifying giraffes to help with research and conservation efforts.
With two other researchers, she explored two river systems, the Hoanib and the Hoarusib, keeping a keen eye out for the long-necked animals.
‘‘They make so much sense in their natural habitat,’’ she said. ‘‘They’re massive animals but out in their natural environment, they look so incredible and small.’’
At one point, she watched a large male giraffe ambling over sand dunes and was struck at how different the animal looked in the wild, compared with one in captivity.
She would drive into the dried-up rivers and keep an eye out for giraffes. Once the animals were spotted, Turnbull would take photos and try to match their unique pattern – ‘‘similar to fingerprints on a person’’ – with records of known giraffes.
Sometimes researchers were able to identify new giraffes and, in other instances, they would tranquillise giraffes and remove a patch of skin to send off for genetic testing.
Turnbull said a lot was still unknown about giraffes and how they lived together – some groups of giraffes had as few as 10, but they could be as big as 40. Researchers were still figuring out what could determine the composition of a group.
Part of her role in Namibia was helping with ongoing research, trying to figure out what drives the composition of the groups in the two river systems.
Her trip was funded by the Wellington Zoo’s Conservation Fund.
Today is World Giraffe Day, a GCF initiative bringing attention to giraffes and conservation efforts around the animal.
Wellington Zoo will be celebrating giraffes this weekend with activities such as making puzzles for the two resident female giraffes, Zahara and Zuri.