Tall, elegant, and peaceful, the giraffe is a much-loved animal. Today, Wednesday 21 June, marks World Giraffe Day – a celebration of the gentle giants. The day also shines a light on the challenges confronting giraffes; with an only estimated 117,000 of the animals left in the wild, they are facing a silent extinction.

“For a long time, a lot of people just went to Africa and giraffes were there; they’re very visible, very easy to find, so people didn’t realise for quite a while that they were starting to decline in numbers,” says Sophie Dentrinos, wildlife supervisor at the zoo.

In the past few decades, the wild population has dropped by around 90 per cent, now with one giraffe to every four elephants, says Ms Dentrinos. One of the biggest problems giraffes face is the fragmentation of their land. This means they can no longer disperse like they used to which is impacting their genetic diversity, she says.

“We’re starting to see obviously less breeding, less ability to move and find food. They are an animal that wants to move around based on the wet or dry season to find that food availability,” says Ms Dentrinos.

“If they can’t find that, then they’re starting to encroach further into human areas, so they’re getting hit by trains, they’re running into powerlines and starting to compete with other resources that human use.”

The Giraffe Conservation Foundation is working on relocating some of the animals. They take some giraffes from areas that might have too many for the space and place them in areas that they might have previously inhabited but can no longer access.

“Giraffe Conservation Foundation are doing some amazing research work out in the field, a lot of collar tracking to basically see how giraffes are using their habitat and what we can do to try and mitigate any of our effects on that,” Ms Dentrinos says.

The work is coming at a vital time, she says; until fairly recently, there was a wide belief that all giraffes were the same, while it is now known there are four giraffe species.

Ms Dentrinos says this means that some species are closer to extinction, such as the Rothschild Giraffe which has fewer than 3,000 creatures in the wild.

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“So, we’re talking only a generation or two before we’re starting to see the true impacts of extinction becoming a possibility and that genetic diversity really declining in those populations,” she says.

The National Zoo and Aquarium houses five of the stunning creatures including family unit – mum Mzungu, dad Shaba and one-year-old son Themba. This weekend, a limited number of encounters with the family will be available with funds going to support the Giraffe Conservation Foundation. Bookings can be made via the zoo’s website.

“We’re really encouraging Canberrans to come out and support us at the zoo this World Giraffe Day, We have a number of activities planned for this weekend. We’ve got keeper talks and giraffe feeds,” says Ms Dentrinos.

“We’re also raising funds with a donation box to Giraffe Conservation Foundation, and we’ve got craft packs and activities for the kids to get involved as well.”

Having worked in zoos for the past 18 years, Ms Dentrinos says there is nothing like giraffes. They are one of our tallest land mammals; to her, they look quite prehistoric, have a great judge of character, and are a beautiful animal to build a bond with.

“They really are sensitive creatures, for all their size they’re quite flighty in the way that they react to certain situations. When you get to know them as a keeper, you get to know their little traits and sensitivities and they look big and bulky but they’re really not,” she smiles.

To see the giraffes and other creatures great and small at the National Zoo and Aquarium, book online at nationalzoo.com.au

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