{"id":73,"date":"2017-06-19T07:39:38","date_gmt":"2017-06-19T07:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dereklee.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=73"},"modified":"2017-06-19T15:51:02","modified_gmt":"2017-06-19T15:51:02","slug":"a-brief-history-of-field-work-on-giraffe-before-the-year-2000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/73\/a-brief-history-of-field-work-on-giraffe-before-the-year-2000\/","title":{"rendered":"A Brief History of Field Work on Giraffe before the Year 2000"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, I am featuring a guest post by Anne Innis Dagg, a Canadian zoologist, biologist, feminist, and author of numerous books. She has been referred to as “the Jane Goodall of giraffes” and has made a significant contribution to giraffes worldwide in an unprecedented way. Dagg went to Africa in the mid-1950s to study giraffes, making her one of the first scientists to study wild animal behavior in Africa. -Derek E. Lee<\/p>\n

A Brief History of Field Work on Giraffe before the Year 2000<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Anne Innis Dagg, PhD<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, it has been stated recently on the web and in film that virtually no field work had been done on giraffe before 2000. This is not true. I was the first to study this wonderful animal nearly 50 years before that, and soon other giraffe biologists were studying their behavior as well. Here is a brief description of what was accomplished. Further information about these scientific studies is available in my book The Giraffe: Biology, Behaviour and Conservation <\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

** My pioneering field work on the behavior of giraffe was carried out in 1956-57 on a cattle ranch near Kruger National Park, followed by later research on other aspects of giraffe.<\/p>\n

** A few years later, Bristol Foster, a former classmate of mine at university, carried out a long-term much more comprehensive study of the life of giraffe, this time in the Nairobi National Park, working with students at the university there.<\/p>\n

** Phil Berry in Zambia was unique in that although he was not a trained scientist, he observed and made extensive notes on giraffe in the Luangwa Valley for over 50 years. Recently he and Fred Bercovitch have published many papers on this long term data set.<\/p>\n

** Between 1972 and 1979, Barbara and Walter Leuthold published extensive studies of giraffe behavior in the Tsavo National Park which involved food habits, reproduction, ecology, daytime activities, and social organization.<\/p>\n

** Vaughan Langman carried out field work on giraffe in the 1970s, such as cow\/ calf relationships and giraffe pica behavior, and also published various physiological studies of this species. We keep in touch now and then.<\/p>\n

** Anthony Hall-Martin in the 1970s in the Transvaal, South Africa, studied the seasonal food of giraffe as well as their productivity.<\/p>\n

** David Pratt and Virginia Anderson, who contacted me in the late 1970s, carried out later research on calf social development in the Serengeti, and then the behavior of giraffe in Arusha National Park.<\/p>\n

** J.J.C. Sauer, along with J.D. Skinner and A.W. Neitz in the early 1980s, studied the food selection of giraffe, including the changing composition of leaves they ate.<\/p>\n

** Robin Pellew during the mid-1980s in the Serengeti researched the food consumption of giraffe there, as well as the impact of fire on this species. He later returned to Britain where he is involved with the World Wildlife Fund-UK. \u00a0Recently Megan Strauss has carried out further giraffe research in this area.<\/p>\n

So, you can see, there have been a number scientists and amateurs who made significant efforts to advancing the science of giraffe behavior and ecology in the decades before the recent millennium began.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, I am featuring a guest post by Anne Innis Dagg, a Canadian zoologist, biologist, feminist, and author of numerous books. She has been referred to as “the Jane Goodall of giraffes” and has made a significant contribution to giraffes worldwide in an unprecedented way. Dagg went to Africa in the mid-1950s to study giraffes, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":284,"featured_media":74,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[21,3],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-73","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-giraffe","category-wildlife-conservation","tag-giraffe"],"yoast_head":"\nA Brief History of Field Work on Giraffe before the Year 2000 - Derek Lee<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/73\/a-brief-history-of-field-work-on-giraffe-before-the-year-2000\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Brief History of Field Work on Giraffe before the Year 2000\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today, I am featuring a guest post by Anne Innis Dagg, a Canadian zoologist, biologist, feminist, and author of numerous books. 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Current research investigates Masai Giraffe and other large mammal populations within a fragmented landscape in Tanzania. This work examines how births, deaths, and movements of ungulates are impacted by increasingly fragmented wildlife habitat, and what conservation actions are most effective. He spent 10 years researching the impacts of climate and ocean conditions on survival, reproduction, and population growth rates of marine predators such as northern elephant seals, Common Murres, and Cassin's Auklets at the South Farallon Islands, California. His work was included in a conservation and management plan for seabirds in the California Current. He also studied migration of Black Brant in Humboldt Bay as well as fire ecology of small mammals in California's oak woodlands and California Spotted Owls in the Sierra Nevada.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.wildnatureinstitute.org"],"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/author\/dereklee\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/06\/Dagg.jpg?fit=182%2C160&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgtNOJ-1b","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":163,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/163\/seeing-spots-new-study-reveals-the-giraffe-babies-inherit-spot-patterns-from-their-mothers-and-certain-spot-traits-improve-newborn-survival\/","url_meta":{"origin":73,"position":0},"title":"Seeing Spots: New Study Reveals the Giraffe Babies Inherit Spot Patterns from Their Mothers and Certain Spot Traits Improve Newborn Survival","author":"Derek Lee","date":"October 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"50-year-old Hypothesis Confirmed with Modern Techniques The beautiful coat patterns of giraffes are individually unique and don\u2019t change with age, but their origins and purpose were a mystery. A new study found wild giraffe spot pattern traits were heritable, passed down from mother to offspring, and certain spot traits improved\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "animal"","block_context":{"text":"animal","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/category\/animal\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/09\/INFORGRAPHICspots.jpg?fit=776%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/09\/INFORGRAPHICspots.jpg?fit=776%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/09\/INFORGRAPHICspots.jpg?fit=776%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/09\/INFORGRAPHICspots.jpg?fit=776%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":327,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/327\/giraffe-ossicones-unique-mammal-headgear\/","url_meta":{"origin":73,"position":1},"title":"Giraffe Ossicones: Unique Mammal Headgear","author":"Derek Lee","date":"April 13, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Ossicones are columnar or conical skin-covered bone structures on the heads of giraffe and okapi (Fig 1). Giraffe ossicones consist of a bone core covered with skin and attached to the skull with connective tissue. The bone, skin, and connective tissue of ossicones are all living growing tissues with blood\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "animal"","block_context":{"text":"animal","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/category\/animal\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/04\/giraffe-80-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/04\/giraffe-80-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/04\/giraffe-80-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/04\/giraffe-80-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/04\/giraffe-80-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":29,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/29\/giraffes-declared-vulnerable-to-extinction-worlds-leading-giraffe-experts-react\/","url_meta":{"origin":73,"position":2},"title":"Giraffes declared vulnerable to extinction, world’s leading giraffe experts react","author":"Derek Lee","date":"December 8, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The giraffe is threatened with extinction, according to a new Red List assessment from the IUCN. The world\u2019s giraffe experts are actively working to conserve all subspecies of giraffes. Arusha, TANZANIA, 8 December 2016- The iconic giraffe, one of the world's most recognizable animals and the tallest land mammal, is\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/39\/how-many-species-of-giraffe-are-there\/","url_meta":{"origin":73,"position":3},"title":"How many species of Giraffe are there?","author":"Derek Lee","date":"March 6, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Some people might be confused by the media announcing that there are \"now\" four species of giraffes, followed shortly thereafter by the IUCN press release that there is one species of giraffe (with nine subspecies) now considered to be Vulnerable to Extinction on the Red List.\u00a0 The IUCN currently recognizes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ecology"","block_context":{"text":"ecology","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/category\/ecology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/12\/Calf2016_funk.jpg?fit=708%2C546&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/12\/Calf2016_funk.jpg?fit=708%2C546&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/12\/Calf2016_funk.jpg?fit=708%2C546&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/12\/Calf2016_funk.jpg?fit=708%2C546&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":204,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/204\/new-study-reveals-how-human-settlements-and-rainfall-affect-giraffe-space-use\/","url_meta":{"origin":73,"position":4},"title":"New study reveals how human settlements and rainfall affect giraffe space use","author":"Derek Lee","date":"February 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"ARUSHA, Tanzania, 22 February 2019 \u2013 Giraffes are huge browsing animals that live in African savanna ecosystems where they must find everything they need to survive and reproduce in landscapes increasingly impacted by human activities. People are converting natural savannas to towns and farms, and cutting trees for fuelwood and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "animal"","block_context":{"text":"animal","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/category\/animal\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"giraffes","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/02\/giraffesngo_orig.jpg?fit=1024%2C385&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/02\/giraffesngo_orig.jpg?fit=1024%2C385&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/02\/giraffesngo_orig.jpg?fit=1024%2C385&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/02\/giraffesngo_orig.jpg?fit=1024%2C385&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":54,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/54\/its-been-a-fantastic-18-months-for-giraffe-science\/","url_meta":{"origin":73,"position":5},"title":"It’s Been A Fantastic 18 Months For Giraffe Science","author":"Derek Lee","date":"May 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"We\u2019ve had a fantastic 18 months of giraffe science publishing at the Wild Nature Institute, with 10 papers out in peer-reviewed scientific journals. These papers are all the product of our Masai Giraffe Conservation Demography Project, which is the largest individual-based study of giraffes in the world. We are grateful\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "animal"","block_context":{"text":"animal","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/category\/animal\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Journal of Mammalogy cover image of Masai giraffe.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/05\/Lee-2016-JoM-cover-pic.png?fit=612%2C792&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/05\/Lee-2016-JoM-cover-pic.png?fit=612%2C792&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/05\/Lee-2016-JoM-cover-pic.png?fit=612%2C792&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/284"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}