Body Shape Analysis in Reticulated Giraffe, Okapi, and Black Rhinoceros Using Three-Dimensional Laser Measurements

A giraffe can become a three-dimensional model while it eats. A brief scan can capture the outline of its body without anaesthesia or a measuring tape around its belly. That offers a practical way to describe changes that people looking at the same animal every day might find difficult to judge consistently.

Nobuhide Kido, Sohei Tanaka and colleagues scanned seven reticulated giraffes, five okapis and three black rhinoceroses at three Japanese zoos. Handheld devices recorded both sides while feeding helped keep the animals still. Building on their earlier giraffe trial, the team divided each digital body into cross-sections five centimetres apart, comparing width, height, shape and estimated trunk volume.

The models revealed individual differences in how bodies widened and narrowed, and longer animals generally had larger estimated volumes. But a broad belly and a large volume did not always rank animals in the same order. The scans measured external shape, not fat: skeletal differences, food in the digestive system and pregnancy could all affect the outline, and missing scan regions required estimation. The result is a promising way to document a giraffe’s dimensions, rather than a validated substitute for weighing it or diagnosing its nutritional health.