Lilayi Lodge’s Game Reserve has welcomed a long-legged, endangered new addition to the herd: a female Southern African giraffe.
The South African giraffe or Cape giraffe (Giraffa giraffa or camelopardalis giraffa) is a species or subspecies of giraffe found in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Giraffes are listed as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The giraffe populations have declined nearly 40% in the past three decades because of habitat loss, civil unrest, poaching and human-caused habitat changes.
Recently keepers have shared that the female Giraffe, nicknamed Mango, has continued to bond spending her time mostly with the orphaned baby male giraffe- and is settling well with the rest of the Lilayi giraffe herd.