Reticulated giraffe : Whipsnade : 27 Jul 2014

Whipsnade's current group of reticulated giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata).

From left: male Bashu (2 yrs); females Savannah (13 yrs), Willow (8 months), Ina (12 yrs), Ijuma (6 yrs).

Oh, what a treat... the whole group in one shot. Very good.

'Ina' is very tall isn't she?

Thanks - I was certainly happy to get them all in shot, and most of them in a line, equidistant from the camera, to make size comparisons easier.

Ina is indeed huge... 5.2m/17ft according to her signage, which is the top end of the range for female reticulated giraffe I believe. Will be interesting to see whether Bashu reaches those lofty heights himself!

The female on the right- Ijuma- looks very rounded- possibly pregnant from the previous bull?

Seems like I was correct, she has apparently given birth again...

What I didn't know until last night's 'THE ZOO ' programme is that the very tall female 'Ina' also gave birth to a female calf (it said her first?)a few months ago, which sadly died after a few days. So all three females in this group have produced female calves since last October.