You are right about the name and that she was old,but wrong about her been a pure Masai Giraffe although she almost certainly had Masai blood in her she was a Hybrid,the last Masai Giraffe was a female at Paignton that died late 1990`s or early 2000`s,i do know she was moved into the new Giraffe House so if somebody knows when that house opened it would narrow down the year she died.
She didn't exactly 'make it' into the new area, in fact the giraffe house and enclosure didn't change at all, ZSL just built a periscope, platform and covered visitor area around it.
Last giraffe born at London? Does anyone know which was the last giraffe calf born at London and when it was? I seem to remember a period when there were the two females 'Dawn' & 'Crackers' plus the male calf of 'Dawn' with the chewed off ear. I believe he was named Jon or somesuch and may have been sent to Kessingland/Africa Alive. Was he the last born at ZSL?
The third female that has been mentioned in this thread was Caragh. Dawn was definately still alive towards the end of 2006 when only Dawn and Crackers were there. Caragh was not there for very long and I assumed she had died but I do not know for certain if this is the case. Last summer the three giraffes were Crackers, Ellish and Caragh. Now it is just the elderly Crackers and Ellish. It does look empty, so I hope that it is the case that two more hybrids have been sourced.
Couldn't say, all I know is that they are expecting to receive two female hybrids hopefully by early next year.
Just been posted on another thread that London Zoo has now recieved 2 hybrid females from Chester Zoo. Molly born late 2006 (Kelly x Thorn) and Margaret born January 2008 (Faye x Thorn)
Well that is settled then. Good that Chester has been able to relocate at least 2 hybrids again and opening up space for pure rothschildis!
Yes, the three at London are young(ish) female hybrids (or is Ellish a pure Rothschild's?). When I last visited, one had a habit of doing repeated head-twists every few minutes. It may have just been a skin irriation or something very temporary, equally if a long-standing behavioural problem there's no reason for it to have started at London. That said, it didn't look good just before the branch-sucking okapi/s, given these are often the first exhibits the public see. I'm not sure how long London think they can go on with the giraffes as part of 'Into Africa' as it is. I hope they use the entire upper level of the Cotton Terraces one day to create a larger, diverse browsing habitat for these animals, I can't see any other part of the zoo where they could make room for a giraffe house and enclosure. Otherwise, I can see increasing disapproval of such a large mammal remaining in an urban zoo, and I for one would be sad to see London lose its largest remaining mammals.
Can anybody name the current three giraffes london have exhibited??.. I visited on the 21st February and there was definitely three giraffes there. I also agree that london should open up the exhibits and create a new aftican plains exhibit even if it means getting new zebra in to mix with the giraffes of they were unable to do so with the current ones!
