Photo courtesy of the Birmingham Zoo.
Griffin Giraffe Birmingham Zoo
Griffin, a giraffe, was born at the Birmingham Zoo in January 2014.
One of Birmingham Zoo’s own offspring will be leaving to further conservation efforts. Griffin, a 20-month-old giraffe, will move in October to White Oak Conservation Center in Yulee, Florida.
This move allows Griffin to join female giraffe in the center to potentially form a new breeding group.
Today, there are fewer giraffes in Africa than there are elephants. Reticulated giraffe like Griffin are listed as least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The main cause of population decline for reticulated giraffe is poaching, human population growth, habitat loss, habitat fragmentation and habitat degradation.
Griffin was born on Jan. 1, 2014 at the Birmingham Zoo and was the first giraffe born in 2014 of any North American accredited zoo. He was the first offspring for both 5-year-old mother, Willow, and 7-year-old father, Jalil.
Amy Toman, Birmingham Zoo Trails of Africa Zoo Keeper, said she has enjoyed working with Griffin at the Birmingham Zoo as well as working with giraffe in the wild.
“Sharing my direct experience in the field studying giraffes with guests allows me to inspire them to take action to conserve giraffe populations in the wild,” she said. “Traveling to Namibia for my PiCA grant gave me the opportunity to work alongside highly esteemed professionals in giraffe conservation in the field and was a tremendous learning experience. I enjoyed being able to bring back this knowledge to help with my care of Griffin and the Zoo’s other giraffe.”
The zoo said it is inviting visitors to see Griffin before he moves in October and that the zoo family will miss him but is excited for him to join other giraffe.
For more information about the Birmingham Zoo, visit birminghamzoo.com.
