Miles, the Greenville Zoo’s new seven-year-old male Masai giraffe, has cleared quarantine and has joined Autumn and Tatu on exhibit.
Miles had been separated from Autumn and Tatu since his arrival on September 20th, and during that time underwent post-transfer physicals and testing to make sure he was healthy and had no issues that he might share with the other two. While Miles was quarantined in the same barn as Autumn and Tatu, the keepers took special precautions when managing his day-to-day care, such as cleaning spaces that Miles had been in prior to Autumn and Tatu entering them and wearing separate shoes (or disinfecting their shoes) after cleaning one area and entering another area.
According to Bullock, Miles passed his quarantine tests with flying colors and was ready to join his new family and experience fall in Greenville. “It’s good to see another giraffe on exhibit and the three of them seem to be enjoying each other,” said Bullock. “As big as Miles looked in the barn during his quarantine, now that he’s on exhibit, it’s amazing to see the size difference between him and Autumn and especially between him and Tatu.”
Miles was born at the Houston Zoo and hand-reared by the zoo staff. He was transferred to the Greenville Zoo as part of the Giraffe Species Survival Plan (SSP) breeding program to be paired with Autumn, the zoo’s 10-year-old female Masai giraffe. Miles, Autumn and Tatu are all part of the SSP, which is designed to ensure that the captive population of each individual species maintains the highest genetic variability possible. This is achieved by managing all of the individuals of a species and making recommendations regarding what animals should breed (or not breed) in an effort to ensure a sustainable population.
“Miles and Autumn are a highly recommended pair for breeding and we hope that we’ll be able to keep them together for many years and welcome more calves to the zoo family,” said Bullock.