Behaviour and Population Dynamics of Maasai Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) on a Kenyan Game Ranch
A study was carried out to obtain information on behaviour, social organisation, movement pattern, feeding habits and population dynamics of the Maasai giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) on Game Ranching Limited (GRL), Athi River, Kenya; and to use modelling and simulation techniques to assess different options for harvesting the GRL’s giraffe population. An existing giraffe photo-file was […]
The Giraffe Biology, Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour (Book)
In one form or another, giraffes have been around for a very long time. And so has Homo sapiens. The interaction between giraffes and humans starts way back in prehistory, and rock art (paintings and engravings) is found all over Africa from Morocco, Algeria and Libya in the north, through Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania […]
A comparative perspective on the evolution of mammalian reactions to dead conspecifics
In a variety of mammalian species, mothers and others care for and/or carry deceased newborns, and sometimes other conspecifics. The rationale for such behavior remains elusive. Based upon field observations of olive baboon (Papio anubis), African elephant (Loxodonta africana), and Thornicroft’s giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) responses to recently dead conspecifics, combined with reports in the literature, […]
Social organization andbehavioral patterns of the captive giraffe at the Bronx Zoo
The social organization of giraffe has only recently been discovered to have a multi-level structure, and the scientific community lacks the proper understanding of how problems facing giraffe, both in the wild and in captivity, will affect this social organization. In an effort to develop understanding regarding both social and behavioral patterns of captive giraffe, […]
How social relationships of female giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi) change after calving
Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) social structure is described as a fission–fusion society (Bercovitch & Berry, 2009; Shorrocks & Croft, 2009), wherein mother–daughter pairs and specific adult female dyads form strong, continuous social relationships (Bercovitch & Berry, 2013; Carter et al., 2013). Bercovitch & Berry (2013) found that in addition to related individuals, peers are more likely […]
Social Behavior and communication in a herd of captive giraffe
Data on wild giraffe herds have often been interpreted as a random association of individuals, but the extent to which giraffe have a more complex social structure may have been overlooked. The focus of this dissertation is to investigate patterns of social relationships among individual giraffe. Social interaction and association (proximity and nearest neighbor) distributions […]
Current knowledge about the social organisation of giraffes
The Etosha Giraffe Research project in Namibia focuses on the social relationships among giraffes, which have previously been described as having little social structure nor strong bonds between individuals (Dagg and Foster, 1976; Le Pendu et al., 2000; Moss, 1976). Giraffes live in a fission-fusion society characterised by frequent changes of associates, with males adopting […]
Giraffe social preferences are context dependent
The dynamic nature of animal societies often hides multiple layers of complexity. The field of animal behaviour is rapidly advancing with the development of increasingly sophisticated analytical methods that allow scientists to identify complex and nuanced drivers of social patterns. The resurgent interest in giraffe sociality illustrates this by challenging the early view that individuals […]
The Structure of Social Relationships Among Captive Female Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis)
Giraffe herds have been characterized as random associations of individuals, but recent evidence suggests giraffe have a more complex social structure. The authors formulated 3 hypotheses designed to evaluate whether a herd of captive giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) associated randomly or patterned their behavior and proximity in a manner indicative of social relationships. Affiliative interaction, proximity, […]
Consistency of Captive Giraffe Behavior Under Two Different Management Regimes
Long-term animal behavior studies are sometimes conducted at a single site, leading to questions about whether effects are limited to animals in the same environment. Our ability to make general conclusions about behavior is improved when we can identify behaviors that are consistent across a range of environments. To extend Veasey and colleagues’ ([1996b] Anim […]