When do giraffe stop getting taller?

 

As we celebrate the world's tallest mammal on the longest day of the year (June 21), we wanted to update you on our research. While the study was designed to compare foot health between zoo and wild giraffe, a side benefit is that this is also helping us learn more about when the different leg bones of a giraffe stop growing.

During our fieldwork in Uganda, we collected foot x-rays from 24 relatively young wild giraffe. On x-ray, we can see which parts of the leg bones stop growing first and the sequence that this normally happens. This is important because injuries or infections that damage growth plates can impact the length and shape of each leg. There's still more to learn about when each bone in a giraffe's leg stops getting longer, but we're excited that our research can help.

We wish you all a happy World Giraffe Day. If you want to learn more about some of the exciting things happening for giraffe care and conservation, please check out https://www.cmzoo.org/world-giraffe-day/ and https://giraffeconservation.org/world-giraffe-day/ Thanks again for supporting our research and helping giraffe!

#WorldGiraffeDay #StandTallForGiraffe #ZooHoofstockTrimProgram