Gentle giants stretched to the limit

Richard Collins on why giraffes have long necks.

FINN, the latest addition to the Fota Wildlife Park’s giraffe herd, was born on July 4. His arrival brings to 15 the number of giraffes at Fota. Park staff are pleased, because this is the first male arrival for years. Finn has been welcomed into the herd by his four sisters, all of them with traditional Irish names. He is being fed by his mother, Roisín.

It’s been a good year for giraffes in Ireland; another baby was born in Dublin Zoo on June 7. The birth of this female is a particular cause for celebration; this is no ordinary giraffe. She belongs to the Rothchild sub-species of giraffe, of which only a few hundred remain in the wild in Kenya and Uganda.