Growth, husbandry, and diets of five successfully hand-reared orphaned giraffe calves (giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi and giraffa camelopardalis reticulata)
Giraffe in the wild are in ongoing decline because of poaching and habitat loss and fragmentation, and were recently assessed as ‘‘vulnerable’’ on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List of Threatened Species. Captive breeding and saving each individual are therefore becoming more important to save this species from extinction. This paper describes the husbandry and diets of successfully hand-reared Rothschild’s giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi; n = 3) and reticulated giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata; n = 2).