IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL COLORADO – Preventive care is important for people and animals, alike. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo partners, Children’s Hospital Colorado, discuss the many benefits of well-child visits, and how pediatricians can support medical, behavioral and mental health at different stages of childhood development.
For more than 13 years, the team at the International Center for the Care and Conservation at CMZoo (the Giraffe Center), has led the animal care profession in cooperative husbandry training for giraffe.
Originally known for their leadership in hoof care, the Giraffe Center team has helped animals expand their cooperative care repertoires to include blood draws, injections, eye exams, x-rays, ultrasounds, acupuncture, chiropractic care, orthopedic hoof wear and more. These behaviors and more allow giraffe in human care to age with grace. Around forty percent of CMZoo’s herd is at, approaching or beyond the median life expectancy for their species in human care.
“It’s really exciting to see the younger members of our herd already benefiting from the preventive care training we’ve learned alongside our older giraffe,” Amy Schilz, senior animal behavior at the Giraffe Center, says. “This new generation of giraffe who grew up participating in hoof care aren’t experiencing the foot issues our older giraffe experienced at their age. That’s a huge win.”
In the early 2000s, the zoo profession at large was focusing relatively little on training giraffe. Without these trained behaviors, which allow animal care professionals to proactively address issues like hoof overgrowth, treatments had to be performed with an animal under anesthesia – which carries its own serious risks.
“What we’ve been able to learn and share with the greater giraffe care community is truly remarkable,” Diana Miller, giraffe specialist at the Giraffe Center, says. “Through our training workshops, virtual Q&As, consultations and community network, giraffe everywhere are benefitting from this care. That’s why we do what we do! The giraffe community is incredibly collaborative, from zoos to private owners to giraffe conservation organizations that treat wild giraffe.”
The Giraffe Center also collaborates with researchers and conservation organizations to learn about how wild giraffe feet compare to feet of giraffe in human care. They recently contributed to a first-of-its-kind anatomical study of the lower limbs of giraffe.
Researchers took CT (computed tomography) scans of giraffe feet in human care and in the wild, and dissected the feet of deceased giraffe to discover precisely how soft tissue, tendons, ligaments, blood vessels and heel bulbs (the cushy ‘shock absorbers’ in giraffe feet) play a role in overall foot health.
“We have incredible momentum, and that’s only going to grow with the opening of the Giraffe Center at our Zoo this summer,” Amy says. “We’re going to connect more people with giraffe and collaborate with even more giraffe care people so giraffe everywhere can benefit like our youngsters have.”
The International Center for the Care and Conservation of Giraffe, a currently-under-construction giraffe habitat at CMZoo, is set to open this summer. The new 12,000 square foot barn incorporates design elements that support giraffe’s natural behaviors and movements – their own kind of preventive care. Learn more at cmzoo.org/giraffecenter.