Giraffes: Hello Up There!

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Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Rich Schwartz and I'm Abaney Mona A. Welcome to Amazing Wildlife, where we explore unique stories of wildlife from around the world and uncovered fascinating animal facts. This podcast is a production of I Heart Radio and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, in international nonprofit conservation organization that oversees the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park. We're highlighting the tallest land mammal giraffes. Their height and unique spot patterns make them a real standout. We're talking about why giraffes have become increasingly vulnerable in the wild and how San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is working with his partners, including local communities, to help protect them. But first, let's find out what makes a giraffe so unique? Rick, Do giraffes have any characteristics that stand out most to you? Oh? Yes, ebony. They definitely have many characteristics that stand out to me. You might even say it's a long list. Seriously, though, there are a lot of different things that make giraffes unique. I mean, goshwork, I guess the adaptations, there's so many of them, Like, have you ever noticed how long their eyelashes are. Yes, I actually have. I was thinking about it the other day. They remind me of that character snuffle up Agus with the long lashes flapping. Yes, well, giraffes eyelashes are real. They're not put on by, you know, puppeteers. Giraffes have eyelashes that are indeed more for functioned and fashion. Although I will say I have toured a lot of people around to meet our giraffes and they do comment how beautiful their eyelashes are. But these long hairs protect their eyes from dust, blowing sand, and even from the sun because they are so big, and and even other debris that might get in the eye. I mean often if you think about it, they eat a lot of food from up in the trees, are pushing their head into there to get those yummy leaves, so those eyelashes are there to protect them. Eyes are sensitive, and while those eyelashes are also protecting the eyes, some scientists believe they might act like whiskers on a cat's face. So as they put their face into the tree there their favorite tree being the accacia tree, so there can be thorns and other twigs. These eyelashes then kind of warn the draft when their their faces getting too close to something that might damage the eye. That's amazing and it makes complete sense why they have those beautiful eyelashes. But I also notice something else that stands out. It's like these fuzzy horns on their heads. I'm sure you know what I'm referring to. Are they indeed horns? What are they for? Yeah? You know? And it's funny because I think a lot of times we see a giraffe face and those as you call them, fuzzy horns, kind of blend into the shape of the school. We don't really think about it until we see them up close. But it's unique to the giraffe family. So both males and females have these two distinct hair covered occones and so accones are basically a term for a conical shape or a cone type shape, meaning it's wider at the base and narrow at the top up They are covered with skin, but it is a bone structure that is actually attached to the skull. So Oscones are different from horns or antlers because of the way they are permanently covered with skin and fur and they are attached to the skull horns are made of carratin like our fingernails. They grow out of a cuticle spot from the top of the head, but they aren't actually attached to the skull. And antlers they are calcium, so just like a bone, but they grow out of a spot on the head that sort of seeds this growth and it's seasonal. So once the antlers grow out, they are initially covered with skin and fur to feed the bone growth. Then that skin and fur dies off and you have the bear antlers that we are accustomed to seeing, like on reindeer or other deer. But then seasonally those antlers will fall off and then regrow the next season. These oscones are permanent, so, like I said, in the males and females, they both have them, but the males do have thicker oce cones they can i should say, become bald on the top because they use them to battle. Are males, so similar to species with horns and antler's. Male drafts will use their oscones as weapons when battling to see who gets to be in charge the activity. Though it's kind of funny that it's called necking because the two males will kind of stand shoulder to shoulder next to each other instead of budding heads or grappling like we tend to see other animals do. And they'll swing their heads really hard towards each other on these long necks, and they'll whack each other with these osticones. So it does kind of peel the skin off as they smack each other around with this. Now, it's usually not enough to really damage the other opponents so much as it whoever kind of backs down first, which is kind of interesting because the oscones get thicker and bigger as the males get older, so you tend to see your older males be the dominant ones. That's so interesting. I never have thought of giraffes as battling or fighting in anyway, so that's new information for me. And we can't talk about standout characteristics of giraffes without also touching on their heights. Just how tall they are? Is it true, Rick that they're tall because of what they need to reach, what they're what they're eating. Let's kind of paint this picture for our audience too. Epany, if a giraffe was standing outside of a two story building, you could look in the window quite easily with all four feet on the ground, so you know you're talking anywhere from sixteen to almost nineteen feet in height. But then when it comes to why they're so tall, there are two main thoughts on this topic. So since about the eight hundred's kind of along what you're saying, it was thought that giraffes of it evolved these long necks to reach the foliage or leaves that they like to eat high in the trees. Now the question does come into play though there are other species that will eat from these trees that haven't developed this long neck. So the other thought as to why they have such long necks is due to what we mentioned before, the way the males battle for rights to breed. They do this neck and behaviors. The longer than neck, the harder they hit. Basically they get the more velocity of the head. So the longer the neck means they're the taller individual, which means they become dominant, and therefore the taller dominant individual gets the right to breed and their genetics pass on to the next generation. And so it kind of compounds and builds over the evolution of the species. So it may not be the only reason for their their height. But what exactly do they eat? We've all seen the images of them eating leaves from tall trees. Are they picky like the other leaf eaters we've spoken about the koala, Well, they're not quite like koalas as far as that they are strict herbivore as, yes, but they are quite as picky as a koalas on as far as what species. Now, they do of course prefer certain uh species such as Acacia tree tends to be one of their favorites that they're well known for being adapted to eating because some of these acacia trees have these long thorns. But you know, aside from a few of their favorites, they do, you know, they do consume a wide variety of different things that are available depending upon what season it is, it's it's a dry season or not. They keep in mind these are big animals. An adult raft can consume up to about seventy five pounds of food today. That's that's a lot of leaves. You think about seventy five pounds of leaves. They'll spend most of their day just kind of browsing and eating because they usually just get a few leaves with every bite, So it's a lot of times when eating. And of course, this leaf eating behavior does lead to another amazing adaptation, one one that people tend to be quite surprised at when they see them up close. Eating without fingers and thumbs, picking leave all day long. Seventy five pounds leaves could be tedious, but with an eighteen inch prehensile tongue, well that's not a problem. What exactly is a prehensile tongue? Well, prehensile. I'm glad you asked that, because I sometimes forget not everyone knows all the terms we use when it comes to our animals. So a prehensile tongue or a prehensile tail, all of it just means something that has the ability to grasp. So, for example, our hands technically our prehensile because we can grasp things with them. So in the case of the giraffe, it's their tongue. It's prehensile, it's long, it's grasping tool that allows them to easily pull the leaves off the branches of tall trees. And here's the fun part. If you happen to see a giraffe eating, you'll also notice something else about that tongue. It's very dark in color. Now it's believed that this helps prevent the tongue from getting sun burned because the dark pigmentation or dark color prevents the sun from burning the skin. And this is important, of course, because again, if your mouth is open all day long, pulling leaves off the branches pointing upwards, and you know in the trees, the sun is going to be right there beating down on you. What do while life care specialists at the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park due to mimic the draft's eating patterns. Yeah, it's pretty funny. You know. You can go through the San Diego Zoo or the Safari Park Ebony and you'll see sometimes our wildlife care specialists just observing and watching the animals and it's like, oh, well, that must be a nice part of the job, just to watch animals. But what they're doing is they're thinking of very creative ways to either enrich the experience of being in that space for the animal, or maybe thinking of new ways they can deliver food to their species. So when it comes to draffe of course, or you know, you've got to think how can I place food in the right spot for them that it's going to be appropriate. It's still interesting. We're talking, you know, sixteen eighteen feet up in the air. So for a lot of the things we offer will use a pulley system similar to how you might raise a flag of a flagpole, but instead of a flag, it's a bundle of hay or a bushel of acacia leaves and you know, still attached to the branch for them to enjoy and pick off, just like they would if they're in Africa. Rick giraffe seems so docile, like peaceful animals. I would imagine that they'd be vulnerable to predators in nature. Is that like an accurate perception? Well, I mean I would say yes and no. And this is this is why it's kind of a yes and no. Although they look pretty docile, I mean, a full grown adult giraffe commands respect out there in the savannah, even from lions. Those long legs, you know that you're talking anywhere from five to six and a half feet in length. They're very powerful and they can deliver an accurate kick, capable of killing a lion or a hyena with just one kick. And also keep in mind at the end of those long, powerful legs is a hoof that measures about thirty centimeters almost twelve inches in diameter. Wow. I never imagined a giraffe killing a lion or hyena, so that's that's very interesting. Um. Do the lion and hyenas still prey on the draft? What are the draft's main predators? Yeah, you know, the adult drafts usually don't have to worry about predators. Now. Of course, like we've seen many species, predators will try to go for those that might be you know, really old and weak or the young ones. And that's kind of the case for giraffe. The youngsters they need to stick close to mom for a while to make sure she can protect him from these lions and hyenas and and even leopards. And then older giraffe they need to stick close to the main herd as they age because they might not be able to defend themselves as well as the more agile younger adults would. Giraffe populations are on the decline, which makes San Diego Zoo Wildlifeciences draft conservation work just that much more essential. What can you tell us about the program? Well, the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance focuses on eight conservation hubs around the world, and luckily for the giraffe, one of those hubs is the African savannah, so this is their home, this is where they are naturally found. When we partner with allies in these areas, we connect with our experts, other nonprofits, private and academic organizations, as well as local communities. And that's really important because the local communities really understand the species and the environment. And working together with all of these entities, we're creating a world where all life thrives. And coming up, we're talking to one of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliances scientists who works in Kenya to learn more about the conservation efforts to save the draffe. But first this now it's time for the San Diego Zoo Safari Part Minute, an opportunity for you to learn what's new. You can watch the grafts at the Safari Park without leaving the comfort of your home. Giraffe Cam allows you to watch our giraffes and our one acre African savannah habitat live twelve hours a day. Fun fact on our giraffe Cam you will see both adults and they're young and when they are born, giraffe young are about six feet tall in a way about two and twenty pounds. Talk about a big baby and if you're lucky, you just may see a baby nursing while tuning in at s DZ Safari Park dot org. The giraffe population has unfortunately declined more than thirty over the last three decades. Giraffes are hunted and traded on the illegal market San Diego Zoo while like a lion, scientist Dr Kirsty Rupert works with the Twigo Will Lindsay, a group that protects giraffes in northern Yeah, she joins us now to tell us more, Hi, Dr Rupert. Hi, So, how many giraffes remain in the wild? So best estimates sit at about one and seventeen thousand individuals left in the wild. This is based on estimates from Draft Conservation Foundation and their numerous collaborators. What this means is that for every one giraffe, there about three to four African elephants left and unless these species are protected, they'll continue to decline. And these draft population levels really differ in the twenty one African countries where giraffe remain. In Kenya, where we support Draft Conservation, Keny Wildlife Service estimates about thirty four thousand individuals left. So what is the tweaga while lindsay or should I say, who are the twig? Yes? So Tweago lindsay translates to giraffe guards in Swahili, which is a national language of Kenya. So Tweego will lindsay are the group of individu rules we work with on giraffe conservation. All members of this fifteen person team are from the local communities with whom we partner and they carry out all of our field studies on giraffe the monitoring programs and community strategies. They're using methods like surveys with motion activated trail cameras, monitoring along roads, classifying vegetation types, and conducting interviews with community members. So you said it translates to draft guards. Why is it necessary to guard giraffes in northern Kenya? So the type of giraffe that live in northern Kenya are called reticulated giraffe. The word reticulated means net like patterns. So if you look up a picture of reticulated giraffe, you'll see this really beautiful distinctive coke pattern and the range of reticulated giraffe, So that means where they're currently living is most likely contained only to the Northern Kenya region and so population there has been in pretty steady decline over the last thirty years to about fifteen thousand individuals today. So within this range, the vast majority falls outside of formally protected areas, and to save reticulated giraffe, we really need to be working with private and community landowners and that's what we're doing with Twiggle Lindsay. Can you tell us more about the work of the Tweego Lindsay. Are they helping to stop poaching? Yeah, so, their skills primarily center around scientific research and community outreach. They're not law enforcement personnel. They work alongside the Conservancy rangers. Those Conservancy rangers are the security that are trained and equipped and work in concert with Kennya's National Police. So there's definitely an aspect of patrol effort to help stop anti poaching. But what's unique about Twiggle Lindsay's contributions is that they're really ambassadors for giraffe in these places. They've built trust with community members and their position in these communities make engagement strategies possible and really foster participation by community members to safeguard giraffe with them. So, Dr Rupert, you've researched the drivers of illegal giraffe use and trade. What did you find? So the reasons for and extent of giraffe use varies pretty widely throughout Africa those twenty one countries I mentioned. This means that a one size fits all approach is really not going to effectively put a stop to giraffe coaching. So, turning back to Kenya where the Tweaga will Lindsay work, all hunting of giraffe is illegal and has been for a while, but the threat of poaching is still present. And in northern Kenya, this primary use of giraffe is for its meat. We've documented reduced levels of giraffe meat consumption since the Tweaga will Lindsay've started, but because giraffe are used as a food source, we really have to handle this challenge carefully. A current study we're doing is assessing the specific circumstances of two particular behaviors, why when and how are giraffe hunted and how is me obtained? And we're also asking community members about their ideas for alternatives and this is, so our strategies are designed around both our scientific findings and community support. So if you said the primary motivation for hunting drafts is consumption, but is this like a common practice, how is it perceived in that region? Yeah? Good questions. So in Northern Kenyan, the communities where we're working, these are pastoralist communities, which means that primary livelihood is keeping and hurting livestock. That livestock is also used as essential source of protein and as a food source. In some difficult times, that food source can no longer be maybe as dependable in those cases, were concerned that people would need to turn to wild meat for nutrition and sustenance. I will say, though, that the motivations for consuming draft meat may differ between different sub groups within a community, and so our strategies that we design will really be meant to target those sub groups around the specific motivations that they hold. I also want to note that for the most part in Northern Kenya where Tweagle, LII Lindsay are working, and in that way, our strategies are really best situated at that community level. And you touched on it by strategies. But with this research, how does this information ultimately help with conservation. So we believe it's really important for conservation to be designed with the input and the participation of the people that are going to be most impacted. So the information we collect through community interviews, community discussions, regular outreach, all of that is feeding back into Twiggle these goals and activities, and then more broadly, what we learned can be shared with others working on giraffe conservation, as well as Kenyan Wildlife Services National Plan to recover and protect giraffes into the future. Dr Rupert, we've been speaking about the species and the different species. What makes a different species? Just briefly for maybe our younger audience. One way that scientists define what makes the species is whether individuals can breed together for multiple generations. The other factors that are considered are genetic differences as well as kind of morphology, so the shape of something like a giraffe school or other body parts, as well as geographic spread. Are these populations distinct in different areas And that's another important consideration when thinking through giraffe conservation in Kenya. Where are these different types of giraffe living, How do those threats to these specific draft populations differ and the ultimate goal is to protect giraffes and draft conservation. Why does this matter so much? How does that impact conservation efforts? So consensus is important when we think about the different threats and conservation statuses of giraffe populations. This can range from critically endangered draft populations in Northern Africa to stable populations in Southern Africa. And I mentioned that Kenya has three different types of giraffe. Well, Keny Wildlife Service has this national framework for planning and organizing draft conservation strategies with partners like Standing as the wildlifelines specific to those different draft types. And that planning really helps prioritize what conservation actions are needed and where, and it also helps us all work together to coordinate these efforts. One outcome of this work is improved methods for monitoring and counting giraffe. So Dr Rupert, people listening at home, what can they do to help? Anyone can join as a volunteer on our project by visiting a website called wild watch Kenya dot org. And this platform helps anybody access our field camera images and work to sort those for us. And with us really speeding up how quickly we can get our scientific findings into conservation management plans like Keny Wildlife Services National Framework. So if you go to wild watch Kenny dot org, you can help us process these different images as well as see beautiful wildlife from Northern Kenny at the same time from anywhere in the world, your couch, the grocery store, lined, the car, and it is really helping. So we appreciate all of our wild Watch Kenny volunteers. That sounds like a great way to help from home, and it sounds like fun too, So talk to me about knowing that your work is helping with the cause of saving and protecting wildlife, including the Draft. I'm what's called a conservation social scientists, which means that I get to help understand why people behave certain ways as well as find community strategies that really fit and align with community goals as well. It's been an honor to work in these places in Northern Kenya and with Twiego Lindsay, meeting so many different community members and community leaders to really see the progress we have so far, as well as knowing that these communities will, you know, protect Draft into the future. Dr Kirstie Rupert with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliances to Wrap Conservation Program. Thanks so much for sharing. Great work by you in the entire team. Thank you everybody. And that's our show for today. Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and tune into next week's episode and which will bring you the story of flightless birds that are well very well dressed for the job. I'm Ebony Money and I'm Rich Schwartz. Thanks for listening. For more information about the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park, go to sdz w a dot org. Amazing Wildlife is a production of I Heart Radio. Our producer is Mikia Swinton. Our executive producer is Marci de Pina. Our audio engineer and editor is Amita Gnatra, with assistance from Matt Stillo and James Foster. For more shows from my heart Radio, check out the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.