Birmingham Zoo Giraffe, Griffin, Moving to Florida

Griffin, one of the Birmingham Zoo’s reticulated giraffe moves in October to White Oak Conservation Center in Yulee, Florida. The Birmingham Zoo joins the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and other zoos in maintaining Species Survival Plan® Programs, cooperative breeding and conservation initiatives. This move allows Griffin to join female giraffe in White Oak Conservation Center to potentially form a new breeding group. Today, the reticulated giraffe is listed as least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The main cause of population decline for reticulated giraffe is poaching, human population growth, habitat loss, habitat fragmentation and habitat degradation. There are fewer giraffes in Africa than there are elephants.

Griffin was born on January 1, 2014 at 12:12 AM (CST) at the Birmingham Zoo. Griffin’s birth was the first giraffe birth in 2014 of any North American accredited Zoo. Griffin was the first offspring for both five-year-old mother, Willow, and seven-year-old father, Jalil.

Amy Toman, Birmingham Zoo Trails of Africa Zoo Keeper, has enjoyed working with Griffin at the Birmingham Zoo as well as working with giraffe in the wild. Toman recently worked with the Giraffe Conservation Foundation in Namibia as part of the Zoo’s Passion into Conservation Action (PiCA) program. The PiCA program at the Birmingham Zoo allows employees to submit conservation research projects that the Zoo will fund. “Sharing my direct experience in the field studying giraffes with guests allows me to inspire them to take action to conserve giraffe populations in the wild. Traveling to Namibia for my PiCA grant gave me the opportunity to work alongside highly esteemed professionals in giraffe conservation in the field and was a tremendous learning experience. I enjoyed being able to bring back this knowledge to help with my care of Griffin and the Zoo’s other giraffe,” says Toman.

The Birmingham Zoo would like to invite the community to see Griffin before his move in October. Griffin will be missed by his entire Zoo family. The Birmingham Zoo is excited for Griffin to join other giraffe at the White Oak Conservation Center.

For the press release, please click here.