Giraffes are increasingly popular zoo animals but their specific physiological and behavioural needs present significant welfare challenges related to feeding height, social structure, and indoor housing.
Giraffe welfare in zoos is shaped by the fundamental challenge of providing appropriate feeding opportunities and social conditions for an animal whose anatomy and behaviour evolved for open savannah. Feeding at appropriate heights, providing social groups that allow the fluid association-dissociation patterns giraffes prefer, maintaining hooves correctly on hard zoo substrates, and managing the cardiovascular demands of indoor housing all represent ongoing challenges. Zoos that invest in specialist infrastructure and appropriate group sizes can achieve much better welfare outcomes than those that do not.