A 10-month old giraffe arrived at the Erie Zoo on Sunday, July 10. He will be sharing the giraffe house with the resident giraffe, Mitch. According to the Erie Zoo, Mitch will now be taking on a "big brother" role and he will help raise the young giraffe.
The 10-to-11-foot giraffe was brought in as a new companion to Mitch, who had a brief period as the zoo's sole giraffe after the death of his father, TJ, in April at the age of 16.
The new giraffe arrived from the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory in St. Paul, Minnesota in a specially designed trailer that is built to hold giraffes. Since he is only 10 months old and around 10-to-11 feet tall, he is easier to transport than a full grown adult giraffe. (Adult male giraffes stand 14 to 17 feet tall.)
The new giraffe is currently living indoors until a new chain-link fence is installed in their outside area, as the current fence was built for adult giraffes and the baby could easily escape.
The Erie Zoo will have a competition to name the youngster.
In the future he could be paired with a female in the breeding program, as he is ranked higher genetically than Mitch. Mitch is also not an ideal candidate for breeding due to his family genes.
According to the Erie Zoo, "Mitch’s family tree played an important role in his companion choice. TJ was born at the Indianapolis Zoo to female Elena, who was born at our zoo in 1985. Elena has given birth to 13 calves, resulting in 41 prodigies. Because of this, her genes are very well represented in the giraffe population. Since Mitch is among these prodigies, his genes are also spread throughout a good portion of the population. Consequently, he is not considered an animal that is recommended to breed. "
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| CHRISTOPHER MILLETTE/ERIE TIMES-NEWS See more photos here. |
1 comments:
bums! i just missed him!
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