For giraffe, hoof health is vital to overall health. As the zoo profession evolves to further embrace animal husbandry training, and new veterinary technologies allow for better diagnostics, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is working to improve the future of giraffe care.

“Horses have been domesticated for thousands of years, and the mantra has been ‘no hoof, no horse,’ meaning the overall health of a horse is connected to the health of its hooves. More and more, we’re embracing that for giraffe,” said Dr. Liza Dadone, vice president of mission and programs at CMZoo. “We don’t yet have all the answers, but we have seen that hoof overgrowth changes how the foot supports the weight of a one-ton body. When an animal distributes that much weight differently because of hoof overgrowth, it can have a huge impact on their joints, ligaments and bones.”

Giraffe hooves grow continuously throughout a giraffe’s life. Ongoing hoof maintenance can help prevent issues commonly associated with hoof overgrowth, like lameness and early onset arthritis. Training giraffe to voluntarily participate in hoof maintenance makes preventive care possible, hopefully avoiding these ailments for future generations of giraffe.

Because it’s such an integral part of CMZoo’s work today, some may be surprised to learn that giraffe hoof care is still in its pioneering phase.

“Before our training program started in 2013, we had limited options for managing hoof overgrowth,” said Dr. Dadone. “We also didn’t fully understand what a ‘normal’ giraffe hoof should look like, because we didn’t have consistent access to the underside of the hoof. Training giraffe to participate in their health care has been a total game changer in the level of care we can provide.”

In the last ten years, CMZoo’s Zoo-wide training programs have flourished. The giraffe care team has been recognized nationally for its training success. In just two years, the giraffe care team, led by Animal Care Manager, Jason Bredahl, and Lead Giraffe Keeper, Amy Schilz, developed safety and training protocols and trained the entire herd of giraffe for front foot hoof trims and x-rays.

“It was unheard of,” said Dr. Dadone. “The giraffe were way smarter than we had given them credit for, and this training gave us opportunities to provide ongoing care without anesthesia.”
Hoof care training techniques include asking the animal to voluntarily approach the team, then lift, position and hold its foot so staff can access it safely.

When working around the feet of a 17-foot-tall, one-ton animal, human safety is crucial. The team developed co-working communication that allows one person to train and keep the giraffe’s attention while the other person performs a hoof trim (or other necessary hoof work). Staff learned which kinds of barriers would best protect them and provide adequate access while working safely around giraffe feet. They also studied behaviors in the giraffe so they could recognize when a giraffe might need a break from hoof work.

Once the herd trained to receive x-rays, the care team found that arthritis, ligament injuries, bone damage, and sometimes fractures were present at a rate they weren’t expecting. This discovery led the team to establish a program that included routine front foot x-rays, thermography, visual assessments and monthly hoof trims.

“We can more accurately diagnose and manage giraffe foot health with less invasive procedures, thanks to training,” said Dr. Dadone. “Now that we know giraffe are prone to these issues, we prioritize training of animals from an early age. The goal is that every giraffe, from one year of age, can have its front feet handled and can receive baseline x-rays. The hope is that we can help the next generation of giraffe avoid some of the issues our older giraffe might be experiencing.”

Young giraffe, like Viv, born at CMZoo in July 2019, start training to participate in their care from an early age. Nearly 8-month-old Viv already participates in prerequisite training that will lead to hoof care training. Her keepers say she is shift-trained, which means she will voluntarily move to another area of the barn or outdoor yard when asked. Viv also shifts into ‘the chute,’ which is a narrow part of the indoor barn that some giraffe move through to receive hoof care and other care.

She participates in target training, as well, which means she will touch her nose to a target held by her trainers. For hoof care or x-ray training, target training helps trainers communicate the very specific location the animal is being asked to move to. Likewise, the target helps animals understand what’s being asked of them.

Viv’s keepers have taught her a ‘back up’ command, which helps Viv get into position for hoof care, among other things. They recently started training Viv to get comfortable with being touched, beginning with her shoulders. Once she’s comfortable with being touched on the shoulders, they will continue progress to eventually touch her hooves, which will get Viv even closer to receiving ongoing hoof care.

As CMZoo’s giraffe care team continues finding new ways to improve the health of animals in their care, they learn from and share best practices with the wider giraffe care community. They do this by attending conferences, hosting CMZoo’s annual giraffe care workshops, and through studies, programs and partnerships with Equine Lameness Prevention Organization, Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Giraffe Conservation Foundation and more.

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CMZoo year-round sponsor, Children’s Hospital Colorado, has created a guide to first-year doctor visits for human babies. Similarly, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s experience with our prolific giraffe breeding program, founded in 1954, gives us some great milestones for the first year of life for a giraffe calf. Let’s see how Viv, CMZoo’s giraffe calf born to Msitu in July 2019, compares to the average timelines.

The first day of a giraffe calf’s birth is full of important milestones. Within the first couple of hours after birth, the calf is expected to stand. It usually takes several very wobbly attempts before the calf is stable on those long legs. When calves are born, they drop about five feet from the birth canal to the floor. In human care, a birth stall usually has several inches of sand, hay or shavings on the ground to help cushion that fall. Once the calf has landed, it usually needs to ‘untangle’ its long legs and neck, and then can attempt to stand.

“Viv’s legs were wrapped up sort of like a pretzel when she landed, so it took her a few minutes to get them where they needed to be,” said Jason Bredahl, giraffe animal care manager. “Once she got those straightened out, she was the fastest calf we’ve ever seen take its first steps. She was up and walking within about 35 minutes of being born, and she really hasn’t slowed down since.”

Within the first three hours after birth, the calf is expected to nurse from its mother. It’s important for the calf to nurse within this window, because it ensures the newborn calf consumes the colostrum that contains important antibodies from its mother.

“Viv was on the slower side when it came to getting her first milk,” said Bredahl. “But, Msitu is a great mom, and she and Viv quickly bonded. Once they did, we saw her nursing a lot that first night and throughout the next few months.”

Normally, giraffe calves nurse for about four months without eating any solid foods, like leaves or grain. The average weaning period is anywhere from six months to a year. The baby usually starts investigating solid foods between two and three months of age.

Viv had other plans.

“We started noticing Viv nibbling on browse and being curious about crackers at about a month old,” said Bredahl. “She is still nursing, so she’s getting the nutrients she needs from mom, but at this point, her diet contains a lot of browse, alfalfa, grain and romaine lettuce from our guest feeding opportunities.”

Unless it’s medically necessary, CMZoo staff doesn’t intervene with animals’ births, and has found it’s beneficial to the mother/baby relationship to allow them uninterrupted time together to bond. Since Viv showed all the signs of being a strong calf, staff never took exact height or weight measurements.

On average, giraffe calves weigh between 100 and 200 pounds at birth, and measure about six feet tall.

“We guessed that she was about 200 pounds at birth and stood about six feet tall,” said Bredahl. “Since then, she’s growing and growing. As of the end of October, we estimate she’s about seven feet tall and over 300 pounds.”

The next big milestone for giraffe in care at CMZoo is to start training. Most giraffe calves born at CMZoo participate in behaviors, like shifting from one area to another, by following their mothers. This allows keepers to care for them by relying on training their mothers have received.

Not Viv.

“Viv has been a total firecracker from the very beginning, when she leap-frogged over her mom’s back as her mom was lying down only six hours after she was born,” said Bredahl. “She’s one of the most independent giraffe calves we’ve ever experienced, which is fantastic because she’s such a great ambassador for her species. She’s interested in guests, keepers and the rest of the herd. It also means she’s not necessarily interested in doing what her mom is doing. That makes shifting into the barn from the yard, or vice versa, or moving from one part of the barn to another an ‘adventure’ each day.”

Keepers rely on a calf’s interest in solid foods to train. The food is the positive reinforcement keepers need to encourage positive behaviors from an animal.

“In our experience, we usually start working with calves on trained behaviors at about four months,” said Bredahl. “Viv was a lot younger than that.”

Because Viv took interest in browse, alfalfa and other solid foods at such an early age, keepers started training with her at just a month old.

Keepers will continue working with Viv on her training, which is still largely focused on asking her to move from one location to another. Once she has mastered shifting behaviors, Viv will eventually graduate to more complicated training activities. Like her herd mates do now, she will later have the choice to participate in varieties of training that allow her to participate in her own health care.

“Our giraffe train to have their hooves trimmed and cared for, their blood drawn, their eyes examined, and of course they train to shift in and out of different areas of their yards and barn,” said Bredahl. “Khalid, our breeding bull, even trains to participate in giraffe ‘yoga,’ which helps him stretch and stay limber. Our giraffe training programs help us take great care of our herd. It also allows us to share what we learn and participate in research studies that benefit giraffe in human care and in the wild, around the world.”

(Try to) keep up with Viv and the 16-member CMZoo giraffe herd every day of the week in African Rift Valley at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. No matter the weather, giraffe feeding opportunities are available to guests daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., either on the outdoor boardwalk or inside the giraffe barn.
 
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