The San Diego Zoo's Girls In Science program started its spring semester with a behind-the-scenes visit to see giraffes!

The Zoo houses six Masai giraffes, and the girls enjoyed having the opportunity to feed and get to know them. One of our big challenges was learning how to tell the individuals apart"”Silver is the adult male, or bull, and is very dark. Abby is the tallest and blondest female. Bahati is an adult female with long, black hairs growing from the tip of her tail. Nakuru, also known as Nicki, is often mistaken for a youngster, but is in fact a very petite adult. Amani is a very dark female toddler, and at 1 1/2 years, is nearly as tall as Nicki. The youngest in the group is a very blond male named Hodari, who was born November 9"”his mom Bahati's birthday!

Our visit occurred late in the afternoon, so the herd was ready for snacks when we arrived. We learned that the Zoo's giraffes are fed an Australian species of acacia (Acacia cyclopsis) rather than the types they would naturally encounter in Africa, because the keepers prefer to feed out food that doesn't have four- to five-inch thorns growing out of it! The giraffes don't seem to mind the foreign browse at all, and also receive alfalfa and leaf eater biscuits throughout the day.

Thanks to the giraffe keeper team for allowing us to visit so late in the day! We had a lovely time and snapped some great photos!

Cindy Spiva-Evans is an educator at the San Diego Zoo.

Girls In Science is a program for Roosevelt Middle School girls which creates science-based experiences with professional women at the San Diego Zoo. The program is funded through the generosity of the Wells Fargo Foundation.

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