Kenya, Nairobi. At the Giraffe Center on the edge of Nairobi, you quickly make new friends. One or the other might even get a kiss from Daisy IV, Betty or one of the other ten giraffes that grow up here or are kept for the breeding of the endangered Rothschild giraffes. Here you get to know our largest land animals and learn more about their endangerment.
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Giraffes are a cross between a camel and a leopard. At least that was the impression when Julius Caesar brought the first giraffe to Europe in 46 BC. The Romans therefore named the animal Cameleopardalis – “camel-leopard”. It was only later that giraffes were recognized as a separate animal genus and given a new name: “xirafah” or “zarāfa” – which is Arabic for “the lovely one” or “the one that runs fast.”
With her long pointed tongue, Betty takes the pellet from my fingers. It feels rough. Carefully she rolls the treat in with her tongue and it disappears. I fish the next pellet out of the food bowl and hold it out to Betty. And then another. And another. After my bowl is empty, Betty still hasn’t had enough. Expectantly, she moves on to the next visitor and sticks her tongue out at him, causing quite a few people to be amazed: a giraffe’s tongue can be up to 50 centimeters long.
But “the lovely one” with the long tongue is threatened with extinction. Since 2016, it has been on the Red List of the World Conservation Organization IUCN. The total population of Rothschild Giraffes is presently estimated at only about 1,671 animals (IUCN, 2016).
It all began in the early 1970s at Soy Ranch in Western Kenya. Betty Leslie-Melville and her husband Jock discovered 130 Rothschild Giraffes on the about 7300 hectare farm. Due to habitat loss, this giraffe subspecies was endangered: the Soy Ranch animals were even the last population in Western Kenya. But the Soy Ranch land was to be subdivided and subsequently transferred to landless citizens. There would have been no more place for the giraffes thereafter.
The Leslie-Melvilles brought finally two young giraffes to their home in Langata, a suburb of Nairobi. Here they raised calves Daisy and Marlon and have been running a giraffe breeding program ever since. In 1979, the couple founded the Giraffe Centre and a year later, the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife Kenya Ltd (AFEW). With the help of donations, AFEW was able to move twenty-six more giraffes from the Soy Ranch to safe habitats. In 1985, seven more animals were relocated to eastern Kenya.
The giraffes in Langata grew and the Giraffe Center also expanded. The AFEW, which operates the Giraffe Centre, consequently purchased sixty hectares of land around the Langata property in 1983. In the same year, the Giraffe Center opened its doors to visitors.
There are presently twelve giraffes on the premises. Five are adult females, six are cubs between the ages of one month and two years. The only rooster in the basket is called Edu. He is nine years old and lives in a separate enclosure.
Between the age of two to three years the giraffe calves become independent and they are released into protected areas. So far, forty animals had been released.
For decades, the Leslie-Melvilles (as well as Daisy and Marlon) have raised public awareness about the endangered Rothschild Giraffes. Today, the centre is well-known for environmental education. Every year, it teaches over 50,000 Kenyan school children and it opens the eyes and hearts of guests from all over the world.
But it is about more than raising Rothschild Giraffes. The children learn also conservation themes such as sustainable development, forest conservation, wetlands protection and waste management. Together with the knowledge they have gained and the intensive encounters with the giraffes, they become ambassadors for nature.
The Giraffe Centre is located in Langata, about 20 kilometers from the center of Nairobi. It is open daily from 9 am to 5 pm, including weekends and holidays. There is an elevated feeding platform, a small exhibition with information panels, a café as well as a gift store.
Up for breakfast with giraffes?
From the feeding platform, you can see between the trees the former home of the Leslie-Melvilles. The house was built in 1932 in the style of a Scottish hunting lodge. Today it is an exclusive small hotel – the “Giraffe Manor”. Giraffes are also welcome guests here. Just in time for breakfast, they stick their necks through the windows. They have quickly learned that there are treats here.
The Rothschild Giraffe was named after the zoologist Lord Walter Rothschild. It is also known as the Baringo Giraffe or the Ugandan Giraffe. In the early 20th century, when the Rothschild Giraffe was first described, they were common in Kenya, Uganda and Sudan. Today, the Rothschild Giraffe is one of the most endangered subspecies. In the wild, it can only be seen in a few places. These include Lake Nakuru and Samburu National Park in Kenya, and Murchison Falls National Park in northern Uganda.
The Rothschild Giraffe is easily distinguished from other giraffes. The most obvious difference is the coloration of the fur. It is paler and the orange-brown rosettes are less sharply serrated. The lower legs have no pattern. It appears as if the giraffe is wearing white stockings.
Another characteristic that distinguishes it is the number of horns – the so-called ossicones. The Rothschild Giraffe is the only one that has five ossicones. Two of these are the larger ones common to all giraffes. The third, smaller ossicon is in the middle of the forehead, and two more are behind the ears. Among males, the two largest horns are mostly shaved bald due to fighting over females. Female giraffes, on the other hand, wear dainty puffs on their horns.
Muller, Z., Bercovitch, F., Brand, R., Brown, D., Brown, M., Bolger, D., Carter, K., Deacon, F., Doherty, J.B., Fennessy, J., Fennessy, S., Hussein, A.A., Lee, D., Marais, A., Strauss, M., Tutchings, A. & Wube, T. 2018. Giraffa camelopardalis (amended version of 2016 assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T9194A136266699. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T9194A136266699.en. Downloaded on 10 January 2021.
Giraffe Conservation Foundation. Annual Report 2019/20. https://giraffeconservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/GCF_AR_2019-20.pdf Downloaded on 10 January 2021.
Webside Giraffe Centre Nairobi. https://www.giraffecentre.org/ Downloaded on 10 January 2021.
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The Northern White Rhino is on the verge of extinction. There are only two living animals left – two females. They live closely guarded in Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Kenya. The international BioRescue consortium is trying to make the impossible possible with frozen sperm, advanced assisted reproductive technologies, and stem cell-associated techniques.
The Rothschild Giraffe is one of the most endangered giraffe subspecies, mainly due to habitat loss. The Giraffe Centre Nairobi is raising public awereness about this endangered species and is well known for successful conservation breeding and environmental education.
IUCN has classified the giraffe as vulnerable due to a decrease in total population of 36-40% between 1985 and 2015. Yet they receive far less attention than other animals in Africa. This article is the continuation of my article on the Giraffe Center Nairobi with facts and interesting details about our largest land animal.
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