Every year on June 21 World Giraffe Day is celebrated. This holiday was initiated in 2014 by the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF).
The purpose of the holiday is to draw public attention to the issues of conservation of these unique animals.
The Giraffe Conservation Foundation is the only non-governmental organization in the world that deals exclusively with the conservation of giraffes in the wild throughout Africa.
Today such animals as giraffes are at great risk in their natural habitat. Over the past 15 years their population has declined by 40%. This is due to armed conflicts, expansion of agricultural areas and activities of poachers.
Mykolaiv Zoo joins this action for the second year in a row as in 2019 these highest terrestrial animals appeared in the collection of our zoo. These are two males that came from the Czech Republic: Nuru and Logan, representatives of a rare subspecies of the Northern giraffe (Lat. Giraffa camelopardalis) – Rothschild’s giraffe (Lat. Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi). There are less than 700 individuals left in the wild, this rarest subspecies of the Northern giraffe is listed in the International Red List as an endangered subspecies.
Giraffes of our zoo are given special care. So that the animals do not get bored, feeding schedules have been developed for them with the feeding enrichment like special feeders for dry feed or required amount of browsable forage suspended in different places (ash, linden, maple, acacia and various fruit trees). In addition, giraffes are given various elements of training to control their behavior and transposition for veterinary examinations and various manipulations. The staff made special beds with soft bedding (straw, sawdust) which giraffes use with pleasure.
You can see Nuru and Logan on the territory of the complex "Ukrainian Safari".
Mykolaiv Zoo is very proud of its new residents and invites everyone to take a walk to our zoo.
