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Milk Composition of the Reticulated Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata) through Lactation

Reticulated giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata) are the most common subspecies of giraffe maintained in zoological institutions. The gestation length for a reticulated giraffe is about 455 days (15 months). Lactation in wild giraffes has been estimated to last 12-13 months. The milk samples used in this study were part of the Smithsonian National Zoological Park’s Milk Repository and had been stored at -20°C since collection. For this study 15 reticulated giraffe milk samples from three individuals were analyzed. Two of

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Seasonal and post-freezing variation of crude protein content and digestibility of willow and cottonwood leaves in regard to giraffe nutrition

The nutrient content of giraffe diets has not been well established. Many diets are lacking or have excessive amounts of protein, and protein is a good indicator of overall nutrient content. Hay and alfalfa are not ideal food items, and browse or leaves are the natural food choice for wild giraffe. In climates that experience seasons, browse is not always readily available, and must be frozen to be fed over the winter months. It was not known if freezing had

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Brief chapter summaries of ‘Stereotypic Animal Behaviour – Fundamentals and Applications for Welfare’ (2nd ed.)

Repetitive, abnormal behaviour patterns are performed by tens, perhaps hundreds, of millions of animals worldwide: animals that live on farms and in laboratory animal facilities, stables, kennels, zoos, even in our homes. Our introductory chapter reviews the extent of research into this ‘stereotypic behaviour’ – traditionally defined as ‘repetitive, unvarying, with no obvious goal or function’ – since the book’s first edition was published in 1993. We illustrate the growing number of papers on captive animals, contrasting them with the

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Enamel hypoplasia provides insights into early systemic stress in wild and captive giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis)

Enamel hypoplasia, a developmental tooth defect, provides a permanent record of systemic stress during early life. The incidence and distribution of linear enamel hypoplasia has been used by anthropologists and palaeontologists to assess the health status of past populations but has not been applied by wildlife biologists studying extant animals. This study investigates enamel hypoplasia in 23 Giraffa camelopardalis skulls from wild and captive animals of various ages and sex to determine whether any systemic stress events are unique to

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On comparing the behaviour of zoo housed animals with wild conspecifics as a welfare indicator, using the giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) as a model

To assess the validity of using wild behavioral data as a welfare indicator for zoo animals, the time budgets of 19 captive giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), from four zoos were compared with the time budgets of wild giraffe from Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. Differences were shown to exist between the behavior of wild and captive giraffe. However, only the duration of lying differed significantly across zoos. Correlations demonstrated that both enclosure size and feed restriction affected the locomotor activity of the

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