Three-year-old giraffe finds new home at The Maryland Zoo
BALTIMORE -- A three-year-old female reticulated giraffe has joined the herd at The Maryland Zoo.
The new giraffe, which does not yet have a name, came from the Association for Zoos and Aquariums, another accredited zoo.
The Maryland Zoo said that the giraffe is going through a standard quarantine procedure while she gets to know the zoo's other two giraffes.
"Giraffes are naturally cautious animals so we're giving our new female plenty of time to get acclimated," Erin Cantwell Grimm, Mammal Curator at the Maryland Zoo said. "She's already been introduced to our older female, Kesi, who is a calming influence, and we're pleased with how well she's doing."
Zoo visitors will have no problem spotting the new 12-foot-tall giraffe when she exits quarantine. But she's still the shortest of the zoo's giraffes. Kesi, a female, stands 14 feet tall, and Caesar, a male, stands nearly 16 feet tall.
The zoo said that anyone who donates $100 or more to the Zoo will be entered for a chance to name the new giraffe. The money raised will directly support the care of the new animal and the Zoo's wildlife conservation programs.
This past summer The Maryland Zoo added another young animal, with the birth of Ivy the chimpanzee.