Factors shaping giraffe behavior in U.S. zoos: A multi-institutional study to inform management

For giraffes, how food is eaten may matter beyond how much. Stripping leaves from branches or extracting food from a feeder keeps the tongue working in ways that swallowing easily available food does not. Across a large zoo study, those different kinds of eating were associated with different patterns of repetitive tongue movements and licking.

Jason Wark and Katherine Cronin analysed 66 giraffes at 18 US zoos, building on their earlier account of the animals’ behaviour. More than 8,000 short observation sessions covered roughly a year. Their models compared feeding, movement and repetitive behaviours with housing, herd size, public feeding, weather, time of day, age and sex.

Giraffes that spent more time browsing or extracting food showed fewer repetitive oral behaviours. Time spent in other feeding activities did not show that same relationship across individuals. At zoos offering visitor feeding, giraffes browsed less and spent more time on other feeding. These were associations between existing zoo conditions, not an experiment proving that changing a feeder or closing a programme would improve welfare. Still, the distinction is useful: an animal can spend time eating without performing the searching, grasping and manipulation that make feeding a richer part of a giraffe’s day.