By my best researching, I believe that there have at least been 17 live births of Giraffe (11 Reticulated, 5 Masai, and 1 ambiguous hybrid) at zoos in the United States since the first of the year. This is pretty good. So far as I know none have died. Two have and facing life threatening maladies that have required exceptional care options. One had surgery on a fractured leg bone and a steel plate inserted to support healing, the other has been fitted with braces on both of his hind legs. Both are responding well. At least, one more has been rejected by its mother and is being raised by its keepers. It would be quite improbable that all 17 would still be around a year from now--we can be certain that if born in the wild, three would already have left us.
With space left on the graphic, I also added two of the several Giraffe in zoos in the United States who have died since the first of the year.
Patches, at 31, outlived the average life expectancy of a captive Giraffe by 6 years. She spent her entire life at the Knoxville Zoo in Tennessee where she was born in 1987. During her long life, she bore 8 calves between 1990 and 2002. At her death, Patches was the oldest living Giraffe in the care of zoos across all of North America. Patches passing into ancestry came after she was no long able to support her own movement due to prolonged osteoarthritis. She was diagnosed over a year ago, and had been responding well to medications until just before her death. Her specific protocols were under the direct supervision of a team of veterinary physicians from the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine in Knoxville.
Benghazi was the most recent Giraffe to die. At 23, he would clearly have been in the elder years of his life. At the Oakland Zoo, in California, he was famous for his love of painting. Guest would would marvel at the apparent enjoyment he derived from grasping a paint brush between his teeth and creating works of expressionist art on canvas. His presence in these moments of enrichment was considered uncanny. While he never spoke it himself, being unable to speak, Benghazi was also the principle star of the 2016 National Geographic documentary "The Last of the Longnecks". At the Oakland Zoo, where he was born in 1996, he lived in the company of his extended family. He is survived by a younger brother and sister, as well as, both nieces and nephews. His death was precipitated by a spinal injury that occurred during his routine rising from a sitting posture.
SOAPBOX ADDENDUM:
I have specifically chosen to highlight the details of both Patches and Benghazi's life and care to make the point that animals in accredited zoos receive platinum level healthcare. There is a myth that all zoos are bad and this is simply bullshit propaganda advanced by people who's agenda is tainted by their own untreated neurosis. Notice that I didn't say that all zoos are good. There are still bad players out there; however, they are few and far between; small and poorly funded; privately owned with the best intentions, but a lack of resources and knowledge--99.9% of the time. If groups like PETA really gave a damn, they would build relationships with institutions they deem wanting and work to bring them into the 21st century with world class care.
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