Search the Article Database:

Search our library of articles, papers and other published materials. You can use keywords or boolean-style search:

The impact of giraffe, rhino and elephant on the habitat of a black rhino sanctuary in Kenya

The habitat in an enclosed black rhino sanctuary, the Sweetwaters Game Reserve in Kenya, is being altered as populations of elephant, giraffee and black rhino increase. Height-specific browse impact data were recorded for 1075 trees of the dominant species, the whistling thorn, Acacia drepanolobium. Rhinos and elephants browsed 18% of these trees in 1 year, including 5% that were killed or removed. The remaining trees were subjected to high levels of giraffe browse and low rainfall and grew by only

View Details + Download

Food Consumption and Energy Budgets of the Giraffe

(1) To estimate the efficiency of the foraging strategy described in Pellew (1984), the rates of food intake of adult giraffe in the Serengeti National Park are assessed. Daily energy intakes derived from the diet are compared with estimates of the energy requirements for year-round reproduction. The reproductive performance of giraffe in the Serengeti is discussed in the light of such energy budgets. (2) Giraffe are exerting a major impact upon the development of the Acacia regeneration, removing up to

View Details + Download

Inducible defences in Acacia sieberiana in response to giraffe browsing

Acacia trees comprise a principal component of the diet of many African browsers. The resultant browsing pressure has led to the evolution of both physical and chemical responses in Acacia trees. In an observational study, we investigated the physical and chemical defenses in Acacia sieberiana var. woodii in response to different intensities of giraffe herbivory. Trees with high browsing intensity had significantly longer spines, smaller leaves and higher total cyanide (prussic acid) concentrations than trees with low browsing intensity. No

View Details + Download

Cerebral perfusion pressure in Giraffe: Modelling the effects of head-raising and – lowering

Loss of consciousness caused by positional changes of the head results from reduced cerebral blood flow (CBF). CBF is related to cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP). CPP is the difference between mean arterial pressure (MAP) at the head and intracranial pressure (ICP). The positional change of the giraffe head between ground level and standing upright is the largest of all animals yet loss of consciousness does not occur. We have investigated the possibility that an increase in CPP protects giraffe from

View Details + Download

Consistency of Captive Giraffe Behavior Under Two Different Management Regimes

Long-term animal behavior studies are sometimes conducted at a single site, leading to questions about whether effects are limited to animals in the same environment. Our ability to make general conclusions about behavior is improved when we can identify behaviors that are consistent across a range of environments. To extend Veasey and colleagues’ ([1996b] Anim Welf 5:139–153) study, I compared not only activity budgets but also social behaviour of an all-female group of giraffe at The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore

View Details + Download

Carotid Haemodynamics in the Giraffe

In a research letter to this journal on the physiology of the giraffe, McCalden et al. suggested that cranial blood flow in the giraffe is regulated by an autoregulatory response of the cranial vasculature. Their conclusion was based on two points: 1) that carotid flow remains constant over a wide range of carotid pressures, and 2) that the giraffe exhibits certain postural behaviour. The argument for (2) is that giraffes always remain resting sternally for a few seconds before standing

View Details + Download

Equine Herpesvirus Type 9 in Giraffe with Encephalitis

Herpesviruses have been isolated from many mammals. Herpesvirus infection in natural hosts is often mild and is usually followed by a latent infection; however, cross-species herpesvirus infections cause severe and fatal diseases. These findings may explain why the giraffe had lesions while the zebras in the same enclosure did not. Outcome: The fact the zebras were apparently healthy and seropositive for EHV-1 raises the possibility that the virus was reactivated and shed by one of the zebras, resulting in systemic

View Details + Download

Herbivore Dynamics and Range Contraction in Kajiado County Kenya: Climate and Land Use Changes, Population Pressures, Governance, Policy and Human-wildlife Conflicts

Wildlife populations are declining severely in many protected areas and unprotected pastoral areas of Africa. Rapid large-scale land use changes, poaching, climate change, rising population pressures, governance, policy, economic and socio-cultural transformations and competition with livestock all contribute to the declines in abundance. Here we analyze the population dynamics of 15 wildlife and four livestock species monitored using aerial surveys from 1977 to 2011 within Kajiado County of Kenya, with a rapidly expanding human population, settlements, cultivation and other developments.

View Details + Download

An outbreak of anthrax in endangered Rothschild’s giraffes in Mwea National Reserve, Kenya

An anthrax outbreak occurred at the Mwea National Reserve between May 2011 and July 2011. This outbreak affected endangered Rothschild’s giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis ssp. rothschildi). Eleven giraffe carcasses were found during the 3-month period. One lesser kudu (Ammelaphus imberbis), the only one of its species in the national reserve, also succumbed to the illness. An investigation was carried out, and the presence of anthrax was rapidly confirmed using bacteriological methods. To stop the occurrence of more deaths of this endangered

View Details + Download

A Preliminary Study of Desert Dwelling Giraffe (Giraffa Camelopardalis Angolensis) Ecology, Northwestern Namibia

Historically, giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis Linnaeus 1758) were widely distributed  throughout Mrica, from the northern to the southern savannah regions (Skinner & Smithers 1990;East 1998). ,Today their distribution is both patchy and discontinuous, from west Mrica to south Africa. Similar to other megafauna throughout Mrica (e.g. elephant (Loxodonta africana), rhino (Diceros bicornis) and buffalo (Syncerus caffer), reduction of available range has reduced giraffe distribution markedly. This reduction has been predominantly associated with human development, although illegal hunting and disease have also

View Details + Download
© All articles are copyrighted to the original authors/publishers unless otherwise stated. Any PDF files provided by the GRC are for personal use only and may not be reproduced. The files reflect the holdings of the GRC library and only contain pages relevant to giraffe study, and may not be complete. Users are obliged to follow all copyright restrictions.

Privacy Policy Cookie Policy