In humans, physical activity not only benefits physical health but mental health as well. At Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, the training and enrichment the animals can choose to participate in are also beneficial.

Research has shown that kids who have moderate physical activity in their day show increased attention, comprehension and learning ability, as our sponsor, Children’s Hospital Colorado explains in this article. The same is true for animals, which is why CMZoo keepers and trainers make daily enrichment and training a priority for the animals in their care, all with positive reinforcement.

“When we provide specific opportunities for animals to be physically active, we often see their overall activity level increase, even outside of the opportunities that we are providing,” said Rick Hester, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo animal behavior programs manager.

Emmett, CMZoo grizzly bear, consistently did a stretch on his own during interactions with keepers, which bears in the wild sometimes do.

“Emmett would sit down and hold his back legs with his front paws,” said Rebecca Zwicker, Rocky Mountain Wild animal care manager. “We saw him doing it so often that we started to incorporate it into his regular training and demonstrations, so our guests can see those natural behaviors. We call it the ‘yoga bear.’”

Over time, CMZoo grizzly bear, Digger, saw Emmett being rewarded for this behavior, and began imitating it, which his keepers of course rewarded.

Guests can see Emmett and Digger doing “yoga bear,” presenting their teeth for keepers to check and offering different parts of their bodies through a safe barrier, where keepers can perform health assessments and decide whether the bears might need veterinary care.

“Most of us know when our dog is excited to head out on a walk in the park, or is nervous about walking into the vet clinic,” said Hester. “Our animal keepers work hard to build trusting relationships with the animals in their care, so they also pick up on those insights from the animals.”

The African lion pride recently showed their keepers that a new and unusual enrichment activity got their approval, says African Rift Valley Keeper, Diana Miller, who has worked with the lions for six years.

“The lions absolutely love bubble baths, and we didn’t realize that until this year,” Miller said. “It surprised us, because we know they don’t usually like getting in the water. But, because we recognize their behaviors, we realized pretty quickly that it was different when bubbles were involved. They absolutely love it. We know they love it, because they play enthusiastically for a long time whenever when we offer them the bubble bath enrichment, and it’s really fun for guests to see.”

For a full schedule of demonstrations and training sessions, visit www.cmzoo.org/shows.

When you think of vultures, chances are you don’t picture heroic, beacons of hope contributing to a strong and healthy ecosystem. That’s because vultures sometimes get a bad rap in our society, often depicted negatively due to their scavenger status. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo has been supporting vulture conservation in various ways since 2009, including currently as a Quarters for Conservation (Q4C) animal beneficiary. Senior Lead Keeper, Jenyva Fox, has been hard at work changing the way guests perceive and understand vultures – in part by organizing International Vulture Awareness Day (IVAD), celebrated annually at CMZoo, on the first Saturday in September. This year, vulture keepers will host activities from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 7.

“The foods that vultures eat, including decaying carcasses, may not be the most appetizing to us, but they are still very important members of the animal kingdom,” said Fox. “The message we try to share with guests is that vultures are the MVPs of keeping our environment clean and safe from the spread of diseases.”

This message is a bit easier to convey when you have three charismatic and interesting vultures to serve as animal ambassadors, helping to educate thousands of guests every year. Fox, along with a team of other keepers, cares for two African Cape vultures, Godric and Hedwig, and Nesher, a Eurasian griffon vulture.

Situated atop new perching that overlooks African Rift Valley, these three raptors survey both guests and animals alike during the warm months of the year. Godric, a 5-year-old male, is curious and friendly.

“Godric loves to swoop into the zebra yard during training sessions, just to check in on the keepers and see what we’re up to,” Fox said. “He’s developed a real bond with us since he arrived almost two years ago.”

Fox says that Godric has helped fellow Cape vulture, Hedwig, to build more confidence, making her braver and more outgoing.

“Hedwig is known for her confidence in the giraffe yard,” Fox said. “She’ll walk among the giraffe, bathe in the waterhole and has even found a great perching spot on top of the giraffe statue in the main yard.”

Nearing 30 years old, Nesher, on the other hand, prefers her routine, opting instead to hang back along the Safari Trail, in a more private location below the Zoo’s main road in African Rift Valley.

“Nesher was hand-raised by vulture conservationists in Israel, so she feels right at home with people,” Fox said. “This could explain why her favorite pastime is people-watching. If you want to see Nesher, your best bet is to walk along the new stroller ramp and look down. You’ll most likely find her looking up at you from that rocky, shaded space.”

Developing connections with Godric, Hedwig or Nesher makes it easier for guests to learn about the contributions vultures make in the natural world. These misunderstood and disparaged birds are nature’s clean-up crew, largely helpful in preventing the spread of disease. Their unique appearance and adaptations serve a greater purpose.

Their iconic bald heads actually prevent bacteria from sticking to their skin, an important adaptation for such a mobile animal. Preventing the spread of bacteria is key when you’re a vulture, which is why some species urinate on their own legs, killing carcass bacteria in the process. No need to panic if you get up close to a vulture, though, because they also bathe regularly – both in the water and the sun. The UV rays from the sun kill the pathogens in their feathers after feeding.

“The thing that makes them the most amazing is that they have very strong stomach acids that kill diseases and bacteria in the food they eat,” said Fox. “This is why they don’t get sick like other scavengers could.”

Sadly, all of these physiological tools aren’t enough to overcome poisoning, which is the species’ largest threat to survival. Misconceptions about vultures, such as being mystical, fortune-telling beings, are partially accountable for vulture poisonings. Ironically, it’s their very scavenger nature that most often leads to their death. Vultures’ very presence points rangers in the direction of animals that have recently been poached. In an effort to hide their misdoings, poachers will poison the carcasses to try and stave off the rangers.

Through the eyes of a conservationist like Fox, saving vultures is closely linked to saving several other endangered or critically endangered species. Efforts to protect these animals in the wild are, therefore, especially vital. This is why CMZoo has joined forces with the AZA African Vulture SAFE (Saving Animals From Extinction) program and the Vulture Conservation Program, commonly known as VulPro.

SAFE programs are made up of Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA)-accredited member organizations that help facilitate and guide united conservation efforts for several endangered species, including elephants, giraffe and orangutans. The vulture SAFE program hit the ground running when it got its start in 2018 and hasn’t stopped since. In comparison to other SAFE programs, the African vulture effort is unique in that it works to conserve six species, as opposed to a singular one. This is because all six species of vulture face very similar threats to survival, so strategies that help one species can also help the other five.

VulPro, a field partner of the vulture SAFE program, helps address captive breeding and reintroduction of vultures, as well as the rehabilitation of injured or poisoned vultures. The Zoo has supported vulture conservation by supporting VulPro for over a decade now, contributing nearly $90,000 to the South African non-profit over the years.

Before becoming a member of the African Vulture SAFE steering committee, Fox was heavily involved in raising awareness for these often misunderstood birds. One way she built excitement for vultures was by helping to establish International Vulture Awareness Day (IVAD), and bring the program to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. The international celebration began in 2009, and has been celebrated right here in Colorado Springs ever since.

“We started celebrating IVAD before many other animal celebration days were in the works,” recalled Fox. “IVAD was around before World Lion Day or World Elephant Day. When the celebration began, the idea of having one day a year focused on one animal’s conservation was relatively new to the Zoo world. IVAD became a necessity because these birds were in trouble, and we didn’t (and still don’t) have a beloved children’s character or even a well-known or respected animal at the helm. People weren’t as interested in saving them.”

From the beginning, Fox knew this would be an uphill battle. Luckily, the mountainous landscape at the Zoo prepared her for such a challenge. She decided the best way to get people interested in vulture conservation was to lean into the preconceived notions about vultures that people already had. IVAD activities, such as making “vulture vomit” and hosting “scavenger” hunts quickly became crowd favorites, especially among the younger visitors.

“Taking vultures’ traits and characteristics and making them into fun activities is a way to grow appreciation for vultures and what they do for us,” Fox said. “Every September, I’m just amazed at how many kids are excited to learn about vultures. Each year, people are more aware, and actively look for them in the exhibit. That’s something that never used to happen. I think part of what’s spurred this increased interest is their inclusion in the Q4C kiosks down at the admissions plaza. It warms my heart to think that we’ve been able to inspire others to care about and want to protect vultures.”

This year, Fox and other keepers will host the 11th annual vulture celebration on Saturday, September 7 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in African Rift Valley and Encounter Africa. Guests can expect the same hands-on activities they have grown to know and love, like vomit-making, stomach juice experiments and condor “surgery.” Our own vultures, Godric, Hedwig and Nesher, will be there, of course, ready to leave kids of all ages in awe of the many wonders vultures provide our ecosystem.

TWO-YEAR-OLD RAE SETS OFF FOR LINCOLN PARK ZOO IN SEPTEMBER

In September 2019, Rae, two-year-old CMZoo reticulated giraffe, will be embarking on her next adventure as an animal ambassador at Lincoln Park Zoo, in Chicago, Ill. The daughter of Msitu and Khalid, and sister of newborn, Viv, and six-year-old, Emy, who now lives in Peoria, Ill., will be dearly missed by CMZoo staff and giraffe fans. But, as she joins a new herd, she will have the opportunity to reach and inspire a new group of people who are sure to fall in love with the curious and social giraffe, as so many did during her time at CMZoo.

In anticipation of Rae’s move, Kayla Ringuette, a CMZoo giraffe keeper who has a special bond with Rae, shared some of her favorite memories of Rae.

“We didn’t have live cameras for Rae’s birth in 2017, so I was the first keeper to meet her,” said Ringuette. “Once Rae started taking food when she was a few months old, I would feed her every opportunity I got in order to build our relationship before asking her to do behaviors. I may have gotten carried away, since she was the first animal I’ve ever trained that had no prior training history with people. I think it’s because of that relationship building that she follows me around everywhere I go. I actually created a montage of pictures where you can see every other giraffe doing something in the background, interacting with enrichment or browse, and she’s right nearby staring at me.”

Over the next two years, Ringuette and Rae continued to develop a trusting relationship, which Ringuette says is in large part because of Rae’s natural curiosity about people.

“Rae was eager to interact with keepers and staff right from the very beginning,” Ringuette said. “In training sessions, she is always really curious. She likes to sniff at hoof trimmings on the barn floor after we do our routine hoof work with the herd. We’ve even had to stop a training session because she refused to stop sniffing the person’s gloves while they were trying to work on her feet. We eventually realized we didn’t need food to reinforce her behaviors during those trainings, because she would rather smell the trainer’s gloves.”

As Ringuette and her fellow keepers continued building relationships with Rae, her trust in them stood out, especially in one memory Ringuette recalls of Rae’s first time going into a narrow area of the barn, called a chute. Making sure the giraffe are comfortable in this area is extremely important. If a giraffe ever needs medical attention or needs to be transported, they need to be comfortable in this space. The chute isn’t as wide open as the rest of the barn, which can make the giraffe unsure.

“One of my favorite memories is the first time Rae came into the chute,” Ringuette said. “The chute can be kind of a scary place for a giraffe going through it for the first time. You’re asking this naturally skittish animal to enter a space alone, where they can’t see very well because of the blind corners. Even after being able to investigate the area with mom, Msitu, Rae still wasn’t comfortable. I decided to try walking her through myself while I reinforced her with food, and it worked! Building trust with an animal to the point that they will follow you into an uncertain place that they wouldn’t even go into with their mom was the most rewarding experience I could ask for as her caretaker.”

Rae has spent a lot of her time with herd mate, Bailey, a seven-year-old female who is equally as energetic and curious about people.

“They’ve always been mischievous together, testing off-limits areas of the yard and running around, making the rest of the herd excitable,” Ringuette said. “Bailey is our other really social giraffe, so it’s typically one of them breathing on your neck from the other side of the barrier, when you’re focusing on something else.”

Rae’s outgoing demeanor is sure to serve her species well, as an ambassador that makes connections with people, which we hope will inspire them to take action to protect their relatives in the wild.

“Her gregarious nature makes people fall in love immediately, since it seems like she is picking you out of a crowd,” Ringuette said. “She makes you feel very special. Creating connections with people is ultimately her job, and she’s so great at it.”

As part of the Species Survival Plan (SSP), Rae will join Lincoln Park Zoo female giraffe, 21-year-old Etana, and a young male giraffe, Finely, who is three. Under the same recommendation, a female giraffe who could breed with Khalid will join CMZoo’s herd later in the month.

“I will miss my little shadow, but I have very high hopes for this girl in her new home,” Ringuette said. “She is a rockstar with training, and she is already such a great ambassador to her species at two years old, that she is going to make many guests fall in love with her for the rest of her life in her new home.”

Guests are welcome to come and visit Rae to share their well wishes before her move, every day of the week at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

New Hippo and Penguin Exhibit to Open This Fall – Water’s Edge: Africa Animal Care Manager, Jeremy Dillon, shares the latest from the hippo and penguin exhibit, set to open this fall.

Have you noticed a few new faces and interesting accents around CMZoo lately? Get to know some of our visiting keepers, from Melbourne Zoo, in Australia, and hear about their favorite experiences from their time with us!

IT’S MORE THAN JUST AN EXCUSE TO GET DIRTY

Did you know that there is an international day dedicated to celebrating mud? June 29 is International Mud Day, and it’s more than just an excuse to get really, really dirty.

International Mud Day may not seem to have an obvious connection to animals or zoos, but connecting kids with nature allows them to become stronger environmental stewards who are capable of changing the world someday. Mud Day is definitely making those connections and fostering those stewards.

International Mud Day started because a school in Australia and a school in Nepal wanted to create a day where kids from two different worlds could play in nature at the same time. The kids from Nepal could not afford to get a set of clothes dirty, so the Australian students raised funds and sent clothes so they could play together on the same day. That was ten years ago. Now, groups all over the world celebrate International Mud Day, including Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s summer camp and teen program participants.

This year, summer campers spent an entire week dedicated to mud! Playing mud games, creating mud crafts, making mud enrichment for animals and more. You name it, the campers successfully incorporated mud into it, every day.

The teen program spent several days creating mud activities and helping to prepare the famous CMZoo Mud Pit for Friday’s finale of mud week. Campers and teens celebrated Mud Day on Friday, June 28 this year and spent the entire day on the Zoo’s Nature Trail splashing and “bathing,” throwing, and wearing mud from three cascading mud pools.

Kids from four to seventeen years old participated in this celebration of nature play, with each age group interacting in the exact same ways: making face paint, plopping it onto a friend’s head, and trying to get their shirts and shorts as muddy as possible. Kids end up with mud in their ears, mouths and hair, and enjoy every minute of it.

If you are interested in learning more about International Mud Day or are looking for ways to celebrate it next year, please visit https://worldforumfoundation.org/workinggroups/nature/mud-day/.
 
Back to The Waterhole Home Page

 

CMZoo’s conservation team gives an update on its black-footed ferret and Wyoming toad breeding programs. The two important breeding and release efforts contribute to saving species that were once considered extinct in the wild.

Back to The Waterhole Home Page

INTRODUCTIONS CONTINUE AS KEEPERS REMAIN FLEXIBLE

Since he arrived in May 2016, Goma, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s 28-year-old silverback Western lowland gorilla, has been working to incorporate with the gorilla troop of four females, Juju, Roxie, Asha and Kwisha. With a focus on providing an environment which helps all of the gorillas feel safe and in control, keepers are beginning to see promising interactions.

Goma came to CMZoo on a breeding recommendation with one of the females, but the gorillas need to live as a cohesive group before bringing any offspring into the mix, so the females who are young enough to conceive take oral contraceptives for the time being.

Although introductions have been somewhat unusual and challenging, CMZoo keepers and staff continue to stay flexible and seek new ways to provide an environment that promotes positive interactions between Goma and the female gorillas. Goma, who lived with another male gorilla for about 20 years at his previous home, seems to prefer alone time more than most other male gorillas. Staff are working to set the stage for Goma to discover that life with females could be a desirable situation for him.

“He seems to like his peace and quiet, and doesn’t seem like he’s fully convinced about how these ladies can bring him value,” said Dina Bredahl, senior lead keeper in Primate World, who has worked with the primates for nearly 20 years. “We’re figuring out what’s valuable to him, as an individual. He seems to like it when his behavior and movements influence what the females do and where they go. He likes being dominant and keeping the peace among the ladies. We’re looking for opportunities to help him understand that he can have those things, as an integrated part of this group.”

Allowing Goma to have his solitude while providing opportunities for him to adjust to life as a troop with the females is a delicate balance that requires respectful patience for their process. Keepers follow the gorillas’ lead, by collecting and discussing data on the gorillas’ behavior during introductions and adjusting what they do based on that information so the introductions are as calm and safe as possible, for all involved.

Summertime in Colorado is the best time to work on gorilla introductions, because it allows the gorillas into indoor and outdoor spaces. They have more space to be together if they want to be, while having options to be away from each other.

“We do introductions based on their behavior,” said Bredahl. “If it seems like they’re acting unusual or uncomfortable, we will give the gorillas the option to separate in their respective spaces for the rest of the day and will try again the next day.”

When they’re separated, the four females live together peacefully with Goma nearby next door, where they can still hear, smell and see each other. When they’re together, keepers have found it works well to open the doors to all indoor spaces and the outside exhibit. When the gorillas have had enough time together, they have ways of letting the keepers know.

“We know these gorillas well and can usually tell if they’re feeling confident in a situation,” said Bredahl. “Sometimes Goma will move into his favorite habitat or room and pull the door closed behind him, like he’s saying to us, ‘Okay, I’m done now.’”

If a female feels uncomfortable with Goma’s presence, she will make an alarm call, which the other females respond to by defending the female who called. When keepers see this, they monitor the scenario and, depending on the situation, might encourage the troop to separate. This year the gorillas have resolved their few conflicts on their own, without staff intervening.

The list of space options and troop member combinations keepers have presented to the gorillas during introductions is exhaustive. The goal, for now, is to see the gorillas sharing a space and displaying calm and positive behaviors toward each other.

They’ve tried different combinations of female troop members with Goma, in hopes that he would feel less overwhelmed by the interactions. Barriers are placed a few feet back from the gorilla exhibit during introductions to prevent guests from going up close to their spaces, which could distract them. Keepers have found that gorillas with full stomachs tend to display calmer behavior, so they make sure the troop members have eaten well before they spend time together. They’re careful about which foods are available to them during interactions, so there’s no perceived competition among the gorillas over a favorite food item. They also have ways of letting the gorillas know what is about to happen, so the gorillas are prepared to share space when introductions begin.

This summer, with all troop members present and all of their spaces available, CMZoo staff members have seen some encouraging progress, especially between Asha, a 26-year-old female, and Goma. The two showed more promise of making a connection last year during introductions than any of the other troop members and Goma.

“We’ve been working to build on positive things we’ve seen them doing together,” said Joanna Husby, Primate World animal care manager. “We’ve seen Goma building nests, and sleeping and eating while he’s with the girls, which means he’s relaxed and comfortable around them. He’s learning how to communicate, how to lead fairly and how to accept it when the girls aren’t receptive to him.”

While these introductions are taking longer than keepers initially anticipated, they’re aware of other successful gorilla troop integrations that have taken longer. CMZoo is working with its gorilla breeding recommendation partners to keep them apprised of how things are going.

There is a point at which, if the troop hasn’t accepted Goma, organizations involved will have to make a decision about whether to continue making attempts. For now, keepers will continue providing these opportunities for the gorillas to form a cohesive troop together, and they view the progress of this summer’s introductions as a positive indication for what’s to come.

Back to The Waterhole Home Page

GUESTS CAN NOW SEE CUBS AND KAYA EVERY DAY IN ROCKY MOUNTAIN WILD

The three mountain lion cubs who were orphaned in Washington in late May are growing, playing and getting settled in their new home with their new “grandma” Kaya, 13-year-old CMZoo mountain lion. The four mountain lions are sharing den and outdoor space together, and can be visited every day in Rocky Mountain Wild.

Rocky Mountain Wild Keeper, Courtney Rogers, shares the latest update on the cubs, how to distinguish the lions from one another, and what’s next in the cubs’ progress.

Back to The Waterhole Home Page

PLACENTA FROM PENNY THE GIRAFFE CALF’S BIRTH CONTRIBUTES TO GROUNDBREAKING GIRAFFE VETERINARY CARE AND RESEARCH

Waterhole picture
When Penny, a reticulated giraffe calf, was born at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo on June 4, 2018, Dr. Liza Dadone, head veterinarian and VP of mission and programs, couldn’t have known that the next few months of care for the sixteen-member giraffe herd would present such complicated cases. Since Penny’s passing late last summer, her legacy has continued both by helping people around the world fall in love with giraffe and by helping advance giraffe medicine in zoos.

Within months of Penny’s birth, the giraffe care team was managing unprecedented rare cases including a brand-new calf who needed intensive medical care, a chronic ligament strain in a mature male, and a mature female who would eventually reveal a false-positive pregnancy – one of only four such cases of the false diagnostic result ever documented.

Dr. Dadone did, however, know how precious a placenta could be to help improve both therapies and diagnostics for giraffe medicine. Minutes after then-20-year-old Muziki gave birth to Penny, Jason Bredahl, giraffe animal care manager at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, picked up the placenta and handed it off to Dr. Dadone.

New Diagnostics: A New Giraffe Pregnancy Test

“I had been speaking with Dr. Priya Bapodra-Villaverde at Columbus Zoo and Aquarium about a new, more accurate giraffe-specific pregnancy test she had been working on. Although the test had been used successfully on other hoofstock species, we knew that part of the giraffe placenta could contribute to this research,” said Dr. Dadone. “We split the placenta between Dr. Bapodra-Villaverde’s team and the vet team at Colorado State University, who would use it to develop a line of giraffe stem cells that can be used to help manage arthritis and other conditions.”

In late July 2018, CMZoo had to say a heartbreaking goodbye to Penny, whose story had captured the hearts of people around the world. As CMZoo put Penny to rest, her legacy continued with her placenta’s research contributing to creating a new, more accurate giraffe pregnancy test, and to creating a giraffe stem cell line.

Laikipia was the first giraffe in our herd to be tested with the new pregnancy test. Laikipia was thought to be pregnant at the same time Muzuki was pregnant with Penny, but the fact that she never gave birth puzzled giraffe experts at CMZoo and beyond. Throughout the international network of AZA-accredited organizations with whom CMZoo shares and gains input on rare cases, like hers, she was one of only four giraffe ever known to consistently falsely test positive for pregnancy.

Ever since breeding with CMZoo giraffe bull, Khalid, Laikipia had tested positive for pregnancy – but did not test positive before breeding. The CMZoo giraffe care team used the usually reliable methods of confirming pregnancy in a giraffe, including a lack of menses and elevated progesterone levels in blood and fecal samples. They even attempted logistically challenging ultrasounds, which proved inconclusive, as they often do in giraffe.

By October 2018, Laikipia had surpassed her gestation window without signs of miscarriage and with consistently elevated progesterone levels, and Dr. Dadone and her team continued to look for ways to diagnose Laikipia’s condition.

The timing was almost perfect. The new pregnancy test, developed by Columbus Zoo’s lab partner BioTracking, Inc. was ready for real-world trials in spring 2019, after being used to successfully detect pregnancy in two giraffe at the Columbus Zoo. Knowing there was no way Laikipia was still pregnant, despite her continued positive pregnancy test results, Dr. Dadone knew Laikipia was the perfect candidate to test the accuracy of the new test.

“We thought, ‘if any giraffe could break this new test, it’d be Laikipia,’” said Dr. Dadone. “We also knew Msitu was pregnant, so we tested her pregnancy to validate the accuracy of this new diagnostic.”

The new blood test, which detects a protein only present in pregnant giraffe, called Pregnancy-Specific Protein B (PSPB), could also help confirm pregnancy sooner than traditional progesterone-detecting pregnancy tests. Even more helpful for veterinary staff and animal care managers everywhere, early results suggest it could more precisely predict when a calf might be born.

“On the anniversary of Penny’s birth, we got the news that the new pregnancy test, developed in part thanks to Penny’s contribution, appears to be a great new diagnostic tool for giraffe,” said Dr. Dadone. “Laikipia’s pregnancy test came back negative and Msitu’s came back positive. While the lab is still running samples from more pregnant giraffe, this is hugely promising. We have Penny and her mom, Muziki, to thank for helping us detect and confirm this new test can work in giraffe.”

Dr. Dadone and Columbus Zoo and Aquarium will continue collaborating on ways to better diagnose and monitor giraffe pregnancy. The new pregnancy test, once fully validated, should help the zoo community more accurately predict when their giraffe are pregnant and due to give birth.

At this stage, the vet team believes Laikipia has a hormone-secreting cyst, which isn’t life-threatening and doesn’t appear to be causing her any pain or discomfort, but can cause long-term elevations in progesterone. The team now plans to start her on hormone therapy to try to help her return to normal cycling. This is a therapy used in cattle and sometime other hoofstock, but has not been previously reported for giraffe.

New Treatments in Giraffe Medicine: Stem Cell Therapy

The second half of Penny’s placenta was sent to Colorado State University, to grow a new line of stem cells used for therapeutic purposes in giraffe.

The Zoo previously used stem cell treatments grown from blood collected from a giraffe in our herd, that already trained to donate blood. However, there was some indication that stem cell lines developed from placentas could provide even greater therapeutic benefits for giraffe with chronic issues like arthritis.
Waterhole picture
Penny’s stem cell line was used on two patients, the first of which was herself. Some of the cells were used to try to help Penny recover from a splay injury and infection. While that ultimately wasn’t enough to turn around her case, a second giraffe was also treated with stem cells grown from her placenta. At Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines, Iowa, a 21-year-old giraffe named Zuri was treated with cells to help manage her advanced age-related conditions. Following this treatment, Zuri’s coat grew in thicker and she had some clinical improvement. While Zuri passed away in May 2019, both of these cases are helping the zoo community learn more about clinical applications and potential benefits of stem cell therapy in zoo giraffe.

Stem cell therapy is now being used for 9-year-old CMZoo giraffe Mashama.

“Mashama has been dealing with sprained ligaments and a fracture in his right foot,” said Dr. Dadone. “Combine those issues with a ligament strain in his right front wrist [that looks like the right front knee], which preceded the fracture, and we have a pretty complex case to solve. We have tried therapeutic shoes, laser therapy, rest, and more. The next logical step is a cell stem treatment.”

While Penny’s placental stem cells have all been used with those first two cases, in July, Mashama was treated with a stem cell line grown at CSU. CMZoo is watching him closely and is hopeful the stem cell therapy can help him continue to heal, and help the zoo community learn more about applying novel therapies like stem cells to better manage health issues in giraffe.

The placenta from the calf born at CMZoo on July 6, 2019, will also be used to contribute to scientific advancements to make a stem cell line, like Penny’s did. Dr. Dadone and CMZoo staff will continue contributing to research and studies that will benefit the health of giraffe in human care, and in the wild.
 
 
Back to The Waterhole Home Page

Search