Celebrate the Longest Day of the Year by checking out our favorite Giraffe exhibits!
Friday, June 21 is World Giraffe Day! This was a great day to celebrate the tallest living mammal.
Since it’s a Friday, you might not be able to ditch work and visit a giraffe, so we wanted to provide you with our top five giraffe exhibits, so that you can visit them at your convenience.
It was difficult to narrow down to our top five giraffe exhibits. For starters, 30 of the zoos we’ve visited have had giraffes, so that’s quite a large field to choose from. Secondly, giraffes don’t do a lot besides walk around and eat, so enrichment items and creativity within a giraffe exhibit aren’t necessarily as widespread as they are for other animals.
Moreover, what stands out to us in a giraffe exhibit is the amount of space the animals have – giraffes need lots of room! It’s also a bonus if the zoo has managed to incorporate other animals with the giraffes. However, having a feeding area for visitors is a plus, but again that only narrows the field down to about 20. While not universal, we prefer the feeding areas be elevated decks, where you can the giraffe where it is, rather than have them reach down to you at your level.
A common site that we used to eliminate zoos from contention for being top five in this category, was if they have gravel in their exhibit; we’ve seen a lot of them that just have a gravel area, rather than plush green grass and tree for the giraffes. Let us know if you’ve visited any on our list!
5. Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo – The Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo’s Africa section is one of my favorites. This section includes lions, zebras, ostriches, giraffes, and even a honey badger. The giraffe exhibit is very spacious – enough room for a giraffe herd. The feeding deck is elevated, and the giraffes can come and go as they please. Where they fall a bit short for me is the lack of integrating the giraffes with the rest of their African savanna – the zebras, ostriches, and wildebeest are in a separate savanna area.
4. Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo – Henry Doorly Zoo’s Africa section is also very solid. The giraffes are in an integrated area with ostriches and gazelles. The exhibit has varied terrain, and lots of tree branches for the giraffes. To us, this exhibit just feels a bit more forest-y than we’re used to seeing. For an African savanna, we wish they had more wide open space. That said, they do have plenty of room.
3. Binder Park Zoo – This zoo added their Africa section years after the zoo was open, so you actually have to make quite a hike (or ride the trolley) to get there. We visited in the fall, so due to the weather unfortunately the giraffes were not out. However, the ostriches, gazelles, and zebras that they share the space with were, and there is a LOT of space. Had the giraffes been out, there’s a chance we might have moved this up higher in our rankings.
2. Toledo Zoo – Toledo Zoo’s giraffe exhibit checks a lot of the boxes that we’re looking for in a giraffe exhibit. The giraffes are with multiple animals, including warthogs, kudu, antelopes, and watusi. An abandoned safari vehicle provides extra ambiance. The zoo offers a ride around the africa exhibit to get a better look. The elevated feeding deck is elevated allowed us to feed several giraffes.
1.Columbus Zoo – The Columbus Zoo sets the bar (for us) when it comes to a giraffe exhibit. Their African savanna is very big! The giraffes are integrated with warthogs, wildebeest, zebras, and ostriches. The restaurant near the savanna has window seating where you can watch them while eating your lunch. The giraffe feeding deck is elevated, and they offer multiple feedings per day.
Zoos that we’ve fed giraffes at:
- Blank Park Zoo
- Brookfield Zoo
- Cincinnati Zoo
- Columbus Zoo
- Dickerson Park Zoo
- Gladys Porter Zoo
- Indian Creek Zoo
- Mesker Park Zoo
- Milwaukee Zoo
- NEW Zoo (Green Bay)
- Niabi Zoo
- Peoria Zoo
- Racine Zoo
- Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo
- Toledo Zoo
Click here for our complete giraffe photo gallery.
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