Development of an image-based body condition score for giraffes Giraffa camelopardalis and a comparison of zoo-housed and free-ranging individuals
Historically, giraffes (Giraffa spp.) in zoos are known to have a high prevalence of deaths associated with serous fat atrophy, which has been linked to the impression that as browsers, they are more difficult to feed appropriately compared to grazing ruminants. Therefore, one could expect zoo-housed giraffes to be peculiar in that they might have, on average, a lower body condition than their free-ranging conspecifics. We collected photographs of free-ranging and zoo-housed individuals and used information on sex, age, body