A tall order

How do you move a herd of towering giraffes across a zoo? 

This is one of the most common questions we get asked about Heart of Africa. With the tallest among them standing at nearly 20-feet tall, moving eight Northern giraffes across the zoo requires a lot of forward planning to make sure they all arrive happily and safely.

Moving the herd

Ensure our herd of giraffes were moved into their new home was a key part of our Heart of Africa launch planning; getting them from A to B is something we had planned for months in advance. Moving the herd on foot simply isn’t an option, so we hired a specialist trailer. This is such specialised animal care that was only available from one of only two companies in the whole of Europe.

Watch the video below to take a look behind the scenes.

What happened on moving day?

On moving day, the specialist trailer team joined us at the zoo to ensure everything ran smoothly. We started with a practice run to find the shortest route possible, ensuring we had the best access to both giraffe houses. 

The giraffes were moved two at a time before reuniting at Heart of Africa. Edie was moved with her mum, Orla, so she felt safe and calm. We moved our bull giraffe, Meru, on his own.

The order in which the giraffes were moved was a key part of the process, with each giraffe having its own personality and quirks. We planned to move one of the more confident giraffes to calm and encourage some of the less confident to follow suit. A couple of confident characters will also go last and stay with the others while they wait for their turn in the trailer.

Once the giraffes arrived at their new home, they were greeted with their familiar browse (leaves and branches) to feed on. Their food is hung from the roof so it sits around the head height of a giraffe, ready for them to enjoy!

Meeting the zebras

It was so important that the giraffes had some time to get used to their new home. In recent years, the giraffes have not lived alongside other species, so our animal teams have been closely observing and monitoring how they are getting along as they share the space.

However, for a few of our giraffes, Meru, Dagmar, and Orla, this will not be their first experience living with other species, having mixed with other animals in their previous zoos. We anticipate that this may help them feel at home more quickly.

We moved the giraffes in October, to allow lots of time to settle in before the three female Grevy's zebras, one of Africa's most endangered large mammals, joined them in Heart of Africa’s new mixed paddock earlier this year. 

Every step of the process to mix the animals is being done as gradually as possible, starting off with seeing and smelling their new neighbours through fences before fully mixing.

Sharing skills

The close bond and trust that has been built with their keepers will be a constant for the giraffes throughout the moving process. Two of our assistant team managers have been across Europe to hone their skills and learn from other zoos on how we can best meet the needs of the giraffes in their new mixed environment.

The team has also travelled further afield to Uganda over the years, working in Kidepo National Park, researching and observing the magnificent species in their native home. The experience of seeing the giraffes in the wild, surrounded by other animals, has been an inspiration and source of knowledge for the creation of Heart of Africa’s mixed savannah and providing the best care possible for the animals.