Wild on WANE: Meet the new giraffe

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – Two-year-old reticulated giraffe Lily is new to the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo.

She joins the three other adult females and a male. Luna is the oldest at 18, and her half-sister Mystic isn’t far behind, as she turns 18 on July 6.

Lily was raised in Memphis and arrived at the zoo last October. But this is the first year that guests have met her. She fits in perfectly in Fort Wayne.

“Giraffes are good at adopting each other’s babies. The females protect each other in the wild and the males go off, almost forming a sisterhood,” said Grace Lare, animal care specialist at the zoo. “Mystic hasn’t had any cubs and the others have. , so she was trying to protect everyone’s calves and they were like, ‘There’s no mom there and they’d go back but Lily’s like a free agent. She’ll go see her and do something else, then come back to Lily.

Giraffes each eat between 75 and 100 pounds of alfalfa leaves and hay per day.

“They use their long tongue like a finger and remove leaves. They only have lower teeth in the front for pulling, grabbing and removing leaves, and then they have large teeth in the back of the mouth, near the cheeks, for chewing a little more,” Lare said.

Have you ever wondered why their tongues are black? Basically, it’s natural sunscreen.

“In Africa, she often sticks her tongue out in the sun, so they don’t want to get sunburned, so it’s a natural adaptation that they have,” Lare explained.

Mystic is 15.5 feet tall and Luna is 15 feet tall. Lily is currently ten to eleven feet tall, but will continue to grow until she is five to eight years old.

“She has a lot of wrinkles and her skin creases and we know she’s going to grow,” Lare said.

In the wild, giraffes are extremely endangered.

“There is one giraffe for every four elephants found in the wild. This is an extremely shocking figure,” Lare said.

The species survival plan calls for a breeding recommendation at the Fort Wayne Zoo with the three adult female giraffes and the male. Lily can also breed when she is older. The zoo also supports the Giraffe Conservation Foundation to help save giraffes around the world.

“We want guests to learn about our big five ambassadors that we have here and how important they are to the conservation of this species and how important they are to giraffes in the wild and see our mission come to life” , Lare said.

June 21 is World Giraffe Day and the zoo will host special keeper talks, feedings and training on the giraffe platform as part of the African Journey.