Lake Nakuru National Park Giraffe
Lake Nakuru National Park Giraffe : The Rothschild’s giraffe is a rare and endangered giraffe species that was introduced in Lake Nakuru National Park in 1977. The giraffe specie was brought to the Park from western Kenya for its conservation and protection. The Rothschild’s giraffe was brought to Lake Nakuru National Park as a Kenyan government effort to support the continued conservation of endangered wildlife species. The long-necked animal in our image is a Rothschild’s giraffe, a subspecies of the Northern giraffe, named after the London zoologist Lionel Walter Rothschild, there were only 1,669 of these giraffes in the wild in 2016, 45 of them here in Kenya’s Lake Nakuru National park.
Like any other animal in the park the Rothschild’s giraffe are enclosed in the fenced sanctuary of Lake Nakuru National park for their protection, the fence keeps them from leaving the park and keeps poachers from snooping into the park and killing the Rothschild giraffes. The Rothschild’s giraffe live from 20 to 30 years in the wild and slightly longer in captivity.
The total number of the Rothschild giraffe in Lake Nakuru national park currently is roughly 65 individuals and you can see all these individuals on your tour to Lake Nakuru National park, where the males are larger than the females. The Rothschild Giraffes are taller than most others (measuring up to 6 meters tall) and they live in small herds of the females or males only mixing for mating, the gestation period for the Rothschild’s is between 14 to 15 months.
The Rothschild’s giraffe has a pale orange-brown patches in a cream like channel; the orange brown patches are sharp and not as jazzed as the regular giraffe. The regular giraffe on the other hand has a very dark patches in the bright whitish channels on their coat.
The Rothschild’s giraffe are the herbivores animals scientifically names giraffe Camelopardalis Rothschild’s, is only found in Kenya and Uganda, they are browsers that is they feed mainly on the leaves from the trees like the apricot, acacias and many more in lake Nakuru national park, at times you can find them feeding on the fruits or the sprouts in some areas, as well the Rothschild’s giraffe are known to live and survive well in the grasslands, savannahs and the woodlands, that’s why in Kenya the species was relocated from the western to Kenya to the Park to which was and still a more suitable habitat for the Rothschild’s giraffe.
The best time to view the Rothschild’ giraffe in the park is in the months of June to September and January to March, even with the rainy season the roads are quite passable compared to other national parks of Kenya.
This Rothschild’s giraffe mammal is endangered with only 1671 individuals in the wild as estimated some time back, another of this giraffe is that there are no markings on its lower leg, this makes it look like it’s always wearing the white stockings.
The Rothschild’s giraffe has got predators that includes the lions, hyenas, leopards, crocodiles, as the strong powerful kicks that can fatally injure or even kill their predator, as the most young Rothschild’s and the weak ones are always targeted by the predators and easily be got by the predators.
The poaching of the Rothschild’s’ giraffe and its habitat encroachment and degradation are the main things affecting this species and hence rendering it endangered. This is the major reason to why most of the Rothschild’s giraffe are kept in the well sustainable protected areas like Lake Nakuru National Park and in Murchison falls of Uganda for their continued conservation.
The Rothschild’s giraffe are so attractive and amazing animals which one would not miss out during the safari in Kenya in that they are distinguished by its coat coloring that has pale orange-brown patches, The Rothschild’s giraffe also have five assicones on the head compared to other giraffes.
