Explore giraffe husbandry & zoo through original research. Read the questions, methods and findings behind each study, with direct links to its sources.
44 articles
Scientific commentary
Zoo giraffes were expected to look leaner than their wild counterparts. A scale built from hip photographs revealed the opposite pattern—and a way to monitor condition from a distance.
Scientific commentary
A carrot experiment at Barcelona Zoo asked giraffes to follow a meal that changed out of sight—and gave researchers a way to test how they did it.
Scientific commentary
Beneath a giraffe’s hoof, several structures share the work of supporting each step. A study after death reveals how damage can involve them together.
Observations of 66 giraffes across 18 US zoos linked browsing and extracting food with fewer repetitive mouth behaviours, revealing why feeding time matters.
A Zimbabwe study compared trees near feeding giraffes with those actually browsed, revealing seasonal choices and the limits of a small enclosure study.
Observations of 22 giraffe mothers and 47 calves tested seven explanations for shared nursing, finding evidence for reciprocal care and opportunistic calves.
Observers assessed the expressive behaviour of three zoo giraffes and found links between keeper actions and whether animals appeared calm or anxious.
A study followed two giraffes through Oregon Zoo’s 2020 closure and reopening, separating visitor transitions from seasonal and social changes.
Cameras monitored two giraffes during a Christmas light event at Knowsley Safari, finding little change under their existing indoor winter routine.
A small study combined blood measures and body condition to investigate whether accumulated life events leave a measurable physiological signal in giraffes.
Networks from two Kenyan populations revealed strong same-sex peer associations in adolescent giraffes, distinguishing repeated company from many contacts.
Five giraffes investigated six scents differently, while a separate herd trial showed why a change in enclosure use needs careful interpretation.
A study of six zoo giraffes compared mapped distances with friendly contact, showing why proximity alone can give an incomplete picture of relationships.
A zoo pilot compared feeding encounters with matched control periods, finding no clear adverse behavioural change while exposing gaps in welfare assessment.
A seven-giraffe comparison found that freezing mixtures changed sperm movement after thawing, while showing why movement alone cannot establish fertility.
A fatal illness in one zoo giraffe linked an enlarged thyroid with bacterial and toxin evidence, opening a question about how the disease developed.
Overnight recordings in three zoos uncovered harmonic giraffe hums, opening a communication question that the sounds alone could not answer.
Repeated yielding at feeding time revealed ordered relationships in captive giraffes, with age and stable female ranks complicating an egalitarian image.
A two-container experiment showed giraffes locating hidden food after a short wait, while longer delays exposed the limits of this particular memory task.
Giraffes triggered sound by touching or approaching experimental devices, but more activations did not establish that they preferred the sound.
A study across 18 zoos found repetitive behaviours in every observed giraffe, yet their frequency varied enough to change what an average could mean.
Head-mounted sensors distinguished several giraffe behaviours, but testing a new animal exposed the limits of learning from familiar movements.
Sensors followed three wild giraffes through whole nights, revealing two periods of greater rest separated by increased activity around midnight.
Four kinds of cut branches produced different browsing patterns in five giraffes, and observations after feeding changed how the results were understood.
A summer-to-winter housing comparison found individual behaviour changes without a clear seasonal shift in resting time or hormone measurements.
Dissections of six wild giraffes revealed a concave sole, regional differences in living tissue and a two-part cushion beneath the foot.
Laser scans of giraffes, okapis and rhinoceroses show how to compare trunk shape, while exposing the gap between measuring outline and measuring fat.
Photographs of known-age Masai giraffes reveal when body proportions diverge, and why a longer neck must be judged against the rest of the body.
Whole-genome comparisons of 13 zoo giraffes show why mixed ancestry and a high average level of genetic variation can coexist with recent inbreeding.
A study of East African giraffe genetics found that the timing of rain distinguished regional groups better than several other habitat measures.
A Kenya field study found giraffes and female camels feeding at different heights, while herding routes complicated the question of competition.
Urine from 44 zoo giraffes provided reference measurements and a first protein catalogue, showing why a positive dipstick need not signal kidney disease.
A giraffe calf’s necropsy linked joint and organ damage with E. coli, while severe umbilical lesions suggested a possible route into the bloodstream.
A newborn giraffe developed muscle damage linked to low vitamin E even though its mother’s estimated dietary supply exceeded cited giraffe feeding guidance.
A coronavirus from an Ohio giraffe caused disease in experimental calves, while its genome and antibody reactions linked it closely to cattle viruses.
In a Senegalese reserve, giraffe mothers with stronger associations also had calves that spent more time together, revealing a shared social pattern.
Field observations and dung samples in Zimbabwe linked mature male giraffes’ changing courtship activity to hormone changes over days and weeks.
Male calves had longer suckling bouts in a four-zoo study, including bouts ended by the nursing female. Time at the udder did not measure milk intake.
A Knowsley Safari case study followed two male giraffes through an intervention, reduced sparring and a later reversal in their relationship.
Around-the-clock video of three female giraffes showed daytime changes after their group changed, while nighttime routines remained more stable.
A comparison of six laboratory assays showed why measuring hormone traces in giraffe dung needs validation before it can inform welfare decisions.
A video study tested whether focusing on the mouth could help distinguish giraffe licking from standing, walking and eating in a zoo enclosure.
A seven-day study at Alipore Zoo found uneven patterns of repetitive licking, showing why a group average can hide individual welfare concerns.
Researchers amplified tiny colour changes in a giraffe’s leg to recover a pulse signal from online footage, opening a window on contact-free physiology.
