#giraffe conservation

[thepastisalreadywritten]

[wachinyeya]

[rinusuarez]

The art print of the Giraffes is now available in my store. Click here.

I loved working and learning about this family, and I completely fell in love with the Okapi, which has become one of my new favorite animals. I must say that designing the art print was really challenging, but I am very happy with the result.

As you may know, all of the animals are carefully illustrated. The company I work with to print my work is located in the United States. Their quality is incredible. It is a gallery-quality giclée art print on 100% cotton rag archival paper, printed with archival inks."

_______________________

Thanks again for your support. See you soon with more animals!

[pangeen]

" Masai Giraffes " //© Scott Hyman

© Original Audio

[idrewagiraffe]

Happy world giraffe day!!

Today is the longest day of the year, so to celebrate we celebrate the longest (tallest) animal in the world!!!

giraffes are amazing and so so cool. but sadly, they are still under threat from extinction because of poachers and climate change

the giraffe conservation foundation has so much information on giraffes, including a way to donate to help them!! they also have a whole page on world giraffe day, with some really cool facts as well as different ways you can help support the charity!!

[sitting-on-me-bum]

“A Giant's Ballet”

by Torie Hilley (USA).

“During my time studying the African painted dog in South Africa, we came across these two young bull giraffes “necking” – which is their form of sparring or fighting. Most people think when they see this photo that it is a sign of affection, but once they read the description, the context becomes very different.”

The Nature Conservancy 2022 Photo Contest

[afrotumble]

Standing still - Maasai giraffe in Randilen Wildlife Management Area, Tanzania.

The Nature Conservancy’s engagement in the Randilen WMA is driven by the need to protect this unique ecosystem, which serves as a crucial habitat for a diverse range of wildlife, including elephants, lions, greater kudu, and African wild dogs.

This landscape is part of the larger Tarangire-Manyara ecosystem, a vital corridor for wildlife movement between protected areas, supporting rich biodiversity that is under threat from habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching, and human settlement expansion.

📸 © Roshni Lodhia

#naturenow #NatureAfrica

[savvysshots]

My absolute favorite wildlife photo ive ever taken. I unfortunately did not have my camera with me as this was a last minute zoo trip on a rainy day, but you can still get amazing photos with your camera phone if you know what you’re doing!

[akayna]

I got to feed Rothschild giraffes at the Giraffe Centre in Nairobi last week!!

[elijones94]

🦒 The spotless giraffe 🦒

https://brightszoo.com/rare-patternless-giraffe/

https://www.today.com/today/amp/rcna101041

[fishpiracy]

'the leopard is the world's deadliest animal!!!!' pfft. Okay

[dmrwildlife]

Nairobi National Park, Kenya, January 15, 2023

[rinusuarez]

The last member of the Giraffe family and to my eyes the most beautiful! I must say that when I saw it at the zoo the first time, it didn't strike me as much as now when I draw it. Is clearly the head of a giraffe in the body of a prehistoric animal adorned with the stripes of a zebra running down its legs. If you think of it, is like coming from a fantasy book. Okapi It is a living fossil and contrary to its closest relative, the giraffe, which is mostly found in the savannas, the okapis live in the dense forests of the Congo. It is very elusive and timid making it a really hard specimen to study in the wild. Therefore little is known about it. The poster of the Giraffidae family is coming soon! ___________________________________ Photo Credits: Magda Ehlers ___________________________________

Thank you for your support.

[pangeen]

" Moving gently through the wilderness "

//© Keith Ladzinski

Music: Skott - Overcome

[thepastisalreadywritten]

The spotless giraffe, born at a Tennessee zoo, is the first one seen in more than 50 years.

By Dina Fine Maron

24 August 2023

Just a few weeks old and still without a name, a newborn giraffe at a zoo in northeastern Tennessee could rightly be nicknamed “spotless.”

The female giraffe born without its characteristic spots instead boasts a solid brown coat, a phenomenon that hasn’t been observed in any giraffe for more than 50 years.

She was born last month at Brights Zoo, a family-owned facility in Limestone, Tennessee.

A spotless giraffe was last reported at a Tokyo zoo in 1972.

“The spotless giraffe calf is certainly an interesting case and that type of coloring has never been seen in the wild," says Sara Ferguson, a wildlife veterinarian and conservation health coordinator at the Giraffe Conservation Foundation.

The animal’s rare coloring is likely due to some sort of mutation in one or more genes, she says.

But there’s no indication of underlying medical issues or that the newborn reticulated giraffe — a subspecies native to eastern Africa — is at a genetic disadvantage.

David Bright, zoo director at the Brights Zoo, says that the baby’s nine-year-old mother, Shenna, had previously birthed three other calves and the trio were all spotted.

This latest addition to the zoo’s giraffe family was born at a weight of around 190 pounds, he says, and her veterinary care team concluded “she’s healthy and normal” — though her coloring was a surprise.

A case of spotlessness

Genetics often influence animal coloring in diverse ways.

Giraffes with all white coloring have previously been spotted in the wild, including two at a reserve in Kenya in 2017.

Those animals had a genetic condition called leucism, which blocks skin cells from producing pigments.

"There’s no known explanation for the spotless giraffe in Tennessee beyond that it’s almost certainly due to some kind of genetic mutation or mutations," says Fred Bercovitch, a wildlife conservation biologist at the Anne Innis Dagg Foundation, a nonprofit that focuses on giraffe conservation.

The last known case of a spotless giraffe was an animal named Toshiko born in 1972 at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, Japan, CBS News reported.

That giraffe’s mother had birthed another spotless calf several years earlier, according to Bright.

The Brights Zoo, which is home to just over 700 animals of 126 different species, including nine giraffes, asked the public to vote on four potential names for the giraffe calf on its Facebook page.

It accrued over 17,000 votes in the first day, Bright says.

There are four candidate names, all in Swahili: Kipekee (unique), Firyali (extraordinary or unusual), Shakiri (she is most beautiful), and Jamelia (one of great beauty).

What’s in a spot?

A 2018 study published in the journal PeerJ found that certain aspects of giraffe spots are passed down from mother to calf, such as how round the spots are and their smoothness (which is technically referred to as “tortuousness”).

The study authors also noted that bigger, rounder spots seemed linked to higher survival rates for young giraffes.

Still unanswered, however, was if that was possibly due to better camouflage or other unknown factors like enhanced ability to regulate temperature.

Bercovitch, who wasn’t involved in that study, says he wouldn’t be concerned about the spotless giraffe’s health even if the giraffe was born in the wild and away from a zoo’s medical care.

“Among mammals, the fur and the hair are the primary features that assist in thermoregulation, not the color of the fur,” he says.

“Giraffes can regularly raise their body temperature by a few degrees … they don’t sweat,” he says.

“That’s one of the reasons you find giraffes under trees—they want to keep their body temperatures within certain limits.”

Even the lack of camouflage wouldn’t necessarily mean the giraffe would be at a disadvantage in the wild, he says, since the mortality rate for young giraffes from lion predation is already so high.

Ferguson, the wildlife veterinarian says she looks forward to hearing more about the giraffe in the years to come.

“What would be cool,” she says, “would be to take an infrared light photo or a thermograph of her to see if the spot pattern is still there but invisible to our eye.”

🤎🦒🤎

[williowdrake]

Fahlo allows you to track animals; shark, dolphin, polar bear, lions, sea turtles, elephants, penguins, and even giraffes!! Who know what animal is next to track!?!?

Not only is tracking them cool but we are helping Fahlo’s partnerships too. The bracelets that come with the cards are cute and fits everyone (and as someone who has a lot of allergies I would just like to say that no reactions occurred when I first started to wear these bracelets- must be the magic).