Living Desert celebrates giraffes on shortest day of the year
The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens celebrated the tallest animal on the shortest day of the year.
Thursday morning, visitors had the chance to go into the giraffe habitat and explore the savanna while the animals were off-habitat. The Living Desert called the event as World Giraffe Day, which is technically on June 21 but the zoo celebrates it on Dec. 21.
Animal care keepers were also on hand to chat with guests who were welcome to take selfies inside.
Male giraffes can be up to 18 to 20 feet in height.
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Zoo officials say events like this give them an opportunity to tell the giraffe conservation story.
"People are surprised to hear that sometimes, you know you hear all about for instance, elephants being critically endangered, and they are. But there are 400,000 Elephants left in the world right now. But there's only about 80,000 to 90,000 firaffes is just a fraction of that number. Giraffes are critically endangered because of loss of habitat, because of poaching, because of trophy hunting," said Allen Monroe, president of the Living Desert.
According to the zoo, giraffe populations have declined up to 40% over the last 30 years.
After the event, the giraffes returned to their normal habitat allowing the Living Desert to continue their usual giraffe feeding opportunities.
