Applying Behavioral and Physiological Measures to Assess the Relative Impact of the Prolonged COVID-19 Pandemic Closure on Two Mammal Species at the Oregon Zoo: Cheetah (A. jubatus) and Giraffe (G. c. reticulata and G. c. tippelskirchii)

An empty zoo did not make these giraffes stop watching. When Oregon Zoo closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, two resident males were most vigilant early in the visitor-free period, rather than when crowds returned. A quieter environment was not automatically an environment they paid less attention to.

Laurel Fink, Candace Scarlata and colleagues studied the two giraffes and two cheetahs around the zoo’s March 2020 closure and July reopening. They compared behaviour and hormone breakdown products in dung before and after each transition. The closure provided an unusual opportunity to observe months without visitors, but it also coincided with seasonal change and the arrival of a female giraffe.

The giraffes watched their surroundings less during reopening than early in closure. However, neither the immediate rise in vigilance after closure nor hormone changes within either opening transition was statistically significant. The clearer differences occurred between periods months apart, leaving social and seasonal changes as possible explanations. With only two giraffes and uneven observation schedules, the study cannot tell whether they preferred crowds or quiet. Its useful lesson is that removing visitors does not remove everything that matters to a giraffe: interpreting its response requires following the rest of its changing life too.