Membership 
Marked with jagged spots, the Masai Giraffe, also known as the Kilimanjaro Giraffe, is the largest subspecies of giraffe. As the tallest animals in the world, giraffes have a clear view of their surroundings on the African savanna. With excellent eyesight, they often detect predators and threats from a greater distance than do other animals.
Did You Know?
The giraffe’s six foot long neck contains just seven bones, the same number as other mammals, including you.
Giraffes also use their extended reach to forage on leaves inaccessible to all other savanna dwellers except elephants.
- A foot-and-a-half long tongue can nimbly strip leaves and fruits from a branch.
- Thick saliva protects the giraffe’s tongue from the thorns of its favorite food source, the acacia tree.
- Giraffes spend much of the day feeding and can eat up to 75 pounds a day.
- Weighing up to 25 pounds, a large heart is necessary to pump enough blood to the brain. An average human’s heart weighs less than one pound.
Giraffe Tower
The centerpiece of Giraffe Tower will be the historic Elephant House. Built in 1905, this Moroccan-style domed building is one of the most recognized at the Zoo. Elephant House is on the National Register of Historic Places but sits empty since its most recent occupants – Asian elephants – moved to Elephant Trek. Now we can expand the yard around it toward Entry Village, creating incredible vistas featuring one of the Zoo’s most sacred pieces of architecture and a much larger giraffe herd in the bargain.
Imagine entering the Zoo and the first thing you see is a tower of 10-12 giraffes sweeping across a wide open plain! The habitat will be bordered on one side by the Swan Lake boardwalk, and across the front, a plaza with visitor viewing, giraffe feeding station, and places to sit and rest. Our zebra herd will also occupy the yards, bringing these two compatible African species together for the first time in Cincinnati. A smaller habitat for okapi (the Masai giraffe’s shorter cousin) will be featured along the right side.
With a larger, mixed species yard and central visitor viewing decks overlooking beautifully landscaped habitats and water features, Giraffe Tower will reflect an environment that best simulates the animal’s natural habitat. Daily Keeper encounters will help visitors understand animal behaviors, fulfilling our goal of bringing people close enough to care. In addition to the giraffe feeding and viewing experience at the front of the habitat, we will incorporate other exciting viewing and feeding experiences for visitors, as well as lush landscaping to make visitors “feel” like they are in Africa, getting a close-up view of these tall, gentle giants.
Giraffe Tower will provide:
• More Space for a Larger Herd of Giraffes to Thrive
• Better Visitor Engagement for All Ages
• A Multi-Generational Herd
Our herd will enjoy a much more expansive yard by opening the current elephant yards to extend across three sides of the Elephant House. The interior of the domed Elephant House will be reconfigured as indoor holding for the world’s tallest land mammals, with males sometimes reaching 19-20 feet in height. To accomplish that without impacting the historic dome, we will lower the building’s floor. This indoor space will create multiple visitor viewing areas, for a glimpse of these beautiful animals in every season.