June 16, 2023 • 29 mins
Did you know that the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere is dedicated as World Giraffe Day? Amazing Wildlife heads to the Savannah hub to honor the long legged, long necked giraffe for its special day on June 21st. Marco and Rick are joined by lead wildlife care specialist, Charlie Hyde, who shares his expertise after being at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park for about 15 years. Charlie lets us in on uniqueness of the tallest mammal's tongue and hooves and explains what differentiates their neck though they have the same number of vertebrae as us. With these animals in a mixed species habitat, we'll learn how they interact with the others and how their height plays a big part in everyone's environment.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hi, I'm Rick Schwartz Bundles the s World. I'm Marco Wentz.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to Amazing Wildlife, where we explore unique stories of
wildlife from around the world and uncover fascinating animal facts.
This podcast is a production of Iheartradios, Ruby Studios and
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, an international nonprofit conservation organization
which oversees the San.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Diego Zoo and Safari Park. Hey, Rick, what's up, Marco?
Speaker 4 (00:28):
I was kind of thinking we should probably do another
episode featuring the Savannah Conservation Hub.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Oh yeah, what did you have in mind? I'm thinking
let's see santavanah, elephants, rhinos.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Oh, I know you're the bird guy, so it's gotta
be Ostrich's. Oh no, no hornbills.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Right, you know it's not a bad guest. But hold on,
hold on, let me ask you this. Did you know
that the day with the longest amount of sunlight in
the northern hemisphere it's coming up right now, really close,
June twenty first this year.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Well, yes, I did know that.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
And so you're the bird guy and you just mentioned
the longest day of the year and you want to
talk about the Savannah Hub. So I am going to conclude,
because I'm a smart person, that you want to talk
about the ostrich is the longest bird alive today anyhow,
when measured from the ground up.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Oh man, that's pretty solid. Guess I gotta say you
do know me very well, buddy. But believe it or not,
I actually wasn't thinking about a bird this time.
Speaker 5 (01:20):
What really?
Speaker 4 (01:22):
I know, shocking.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
I know everything's good, But okay, I don't say you
need to go to the doctor.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Nothing is wrong with the world. I still love birds. However,
maybe maybe this will help you.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Right, I'm gonna give you a little clue. World Giraffe
Day is also on June twenty first, how's that for
a cloth.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Ah, That's true.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Someone had a brilliant idea not too long ago to
make the longest day of the year in the Northern
Hemisphere World Girafe Day, to honor the long legged, long
necked giraffe.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
That's exactly right, and that's why we should head back
to the Savannah Hub. So we featured the amazing the
imprint or not the giraffe in today's episode.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Doesn't sound like too much of a stretch to me.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Let's do it nice, excellent. I have one more.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Idea for this episode though, Well, yeah, what's that?
Speaker 4 (02:04):
Okay, what if.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
We leave the studio and head up to my home
away from home, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, right,
and we should talk to one of the wildlife care
specialists who works with girafts on a day to day basis.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
That's a great idea. I'm in let's go.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
I am Charlie Hyde. I'm a lead wildlife care specialist
here at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. I have
worked here at the park for about fifteen years.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Charlie.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
First of all, thanks for taking the time. This is
awesome and we're at a really beautiful spot.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
So just for all the guests who that are listening in,
and we might hear some birds stirping, we might even
hear some of our wonderful wildlife in front of us.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
I see a rhino right in front of you right now.
So this is really great.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
This is one of the most unique things about the
Safari Buck. I think it's these types of habitats where
you see these multi species examples right from Africa and
from Asia.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Can you describe a little about this area for us
for yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
Of course. So right now, we're overlooking one of our
savannah habitat that's multi species, which means it just has
a diversity of animals out there, one of which is giraffe,
another's rhinos like you just mentioned. And so we are
able to take care of these animals in more of
a setting that's indicative to their natural habitat, so a
little less like being brought into barns and that kind
(03:18):
of stuff, and more so they're kind of living their
best life out in a big field habitat. The habitat
we're looking at is about sixty acres, so it's pretty
good size where they get to shake about and move
their feet around. Yeah, I've worked out in the field
now in this apartment for oh shoot, it's it's been
over a decade for sure. But it's one of those
things where like you come in in the morning and
(03:40):
like you're trying to get somewhere, you have somewhere to be,
like you need to go and get this animal's feel
sample or something like that. Yeah, and you can't get
there because there's a giraffic jam in friends of view,
and so you have to wait for this herd of
giraffe or a tower if you will, that's what they're called.
To move off the road, you can like continue on
(04:01):
your way.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
And I love the fact that you mentioned the giraffic jam.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
It's a real problem here at the park, yes.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
And that kind of leads us into why we want
to talk to you today. We are heading into just
a few days away from the longest day of the year.
It's Draft Day, World Draft Day. Yeah, the longest day
of the year, and we wanted to talk to you
about why the giraffe has all these long adaptations and
what they are. So I think my first question for
you is going to be what is your favorite giraffe adaptation?
(04:33):
What's the one thing about giraffes that's like your favorite
thing that whenever you see them or acknowledge, aside from
the fact that the group of them called the tower,
which is pretty cool, but what's your favorite thing about
a draft adaptation?
Speaker 5 (04:43):
Well, I mean, there's so many it's really hard to
pick just one. And honestly, this is going to seem
like a lame example and probably one that everyone says,
but they're the tallest land mammal in existence, and just
the fact that especially on these field enclosures where there's
so many other species that rely on their instincts. And
what I mean is is that if a giraffe stands
(05:04):
at attention, every animal is aware that there's something going on.
Because of their height, they can see all of these
things from far away, and they're the watchtowers of the savannah,
and all the animals that they're dealing with or that
they share a space with, are very adept to that
they're aware. And so if a draft takes off running,
the entire habitat will take off running. They don't have
(05:28):
any idea why. They're just like if the drafa is running,
we all need to be running. And it could be
like a kid that has happy feet, which is just
they're kicking out their feet and having a grand ole time,
you know, but it could be something really important too,
like you never know what exactly is going on out
in the habitat. And so I think that's just a
really cool example of dealing with these animals and a
(05:48):
mixed species habitat and just seeing how they all interact
with each other, and their height plays a really big
part in that.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
So going further into the watchtower concept, then I must
admit when I've had the opportunity to GetUp close in
first giraffes, I just fall in love with their big
brown eyes. Yeah, and those eyelashes and the look that
they have so part of that watch tower.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
They've got really good vision, isn't that correct?
Speaker 5 (06:10):
Correct? Yeah, I do know that they have excellent vision
that they see from a long ways away. They have
those beautiful eyelashes to protect their eyes from the sun
and from dirt and sand getting in there.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
And those big old eyelashes too.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
Oh my gosh, they're so pretty.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
You've work together for years too, you know. I am
definitely the bird guy.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
But oh man, like Rick fall in love with giraffe.
Everyone gets excited when they see grafts.
Speaker 5 (06:31):
So cool too, because especially here, there's not always opportunity
to be like head level with them, so it seems
like we're we're always working a little bit from a
lower vantage point because we're working with them on the
back of vehicles. So when they look down, they bend
their head down and they like they are face to
face with you. I swear it's like they're looking into
(06:54):
your soul. You can see your reflection and their eyeballs.
In fact, I know other wildlife care specialists have pictures
of the reflection from what they're seeing on their eye.
It's just super cool. They're just so.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Neat and to play in so our audience knows to
play in.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Further to that that idea of a draft, you know,
kind of bending down and coming into that eye level
for us, you then get a whole new appreciation.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
For just how big their heads are. Yes, I mean yes, yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
I think because of where we stand versus where they stand,
we don't get a full concept of the fact that
their heads about the size of our torso when we
talk about nose to the back of the head, and
they're just so massive, it's so impressive. But also, and
as much as they can inflict damage by swinging their head,
they're also so incredibly gentle with us in this space
(07:42):
at least is almost surreal to have something that large
moving so quietly and gently. But it does bring me
to the next the next point. Usually when they're coming
in that close, it's because we might have a snack
that they would like absolutely and suddenly they open their
mouth and this giant tongue comes out. Can you tell
us about that? At adaptation of the tongue, all the
things about it, why it's important for them, how they
(08:03):
use it, et cetera.
Speaker 5 (08:04):
Yeah, for sure, So draffe get their adaptation of their
height is because they like to eat trees, and trees
on the savannah are tall, and so they had to
grow tall to eat these trees. Well, another thing about
trees that are from Africa is a lot of them
have thorns, and so there's so many adaptations that a
(08:25):
giraffe has that we could talk at length about them.
But yeah, oh we got it.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
Man, I'm surrounded by puns today, everybody.
Speaker 5 (08:35):
So the length of their tongue, I'm gonna say it
goes about eighteen centimeters long, and it's dark. If you've
ever seen a draft tongue, you'll notice that its coloration
is dark, and that's to protect it from the sun
because they spend the majority of their time with their
tongue out because they're what we would call browsing, and
browsing is literally just eating leaves off of a tree.
But because they have to delicately get these leaves around
(08:58):
these thorns, they have a prehensile tongue, so that means
their tongue is able to wrap around leaves and take
it from the limb and then they can eat it.
It doesn't stop there, though. You'll notice that giraffe have
like really thick saliva. If you've ever had an opportunity
to hand feed a giraffe or even just see a
giraffe eating, you'll notice that they get this long string
(09:20):
of saliva that'll go all the way to the ground.
Like we joke. Sometimes you'll see it like blowing in
the wind. That's really funny, But there's a point to it.
The reason that it's so thick and almost not gelatinous
but really close. It's really thick is because it coats
the thorns and it makes it easier for them to
swallow and digest, and so it essentially kind of protects
(09:41):
themselves on the inside from this thorny piece of acacia
that they just swallowed and then are going to ruminate.
And if their babies help them grow big and strong.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Can you tell the.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Two because we're talking right now and I'm looking over
your shoulder and just area is just it's so beautiful
light here ternlie right every day, especial with the safari
b what's it like a typical day like coming out
to this large savannah habitat what's that like.
Speaker 5 (10:05):
Well, so we come out, we drive around and pickup
trucks essentially, and that's how we feed. Ye yeah, different
than right, Yeah, for sure. So we'll throw a bunch
of like hay and bags of feet on the back
of the truck and we'll drive around the habitat. Essentially,
we make sure every animal is accounted for, big and small.
So we make sure all of our Thompson's gazelles are there.
(10:27):
We make sure all the giraffe are there.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
So that's a lot.
Speaker 5 (10:30):
That's a lot. Yeah, And so we go around and
while we're feeding, we count everyone, make sure everyone's happy
and healthy and getting around the habitat just fine. And
then we try to dedicate part of our day for
like training programs and operant conditioning, any sort of enrichment
that we can do. Or a lot of times we
have procedures and stuff that we have to deal with too.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
I'd be willing to bet a lot of our listeners
aren't too surprised to hear about everything you just listed there, Charlie.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
You know, with the care and the.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Feeding, making sure everyone is healthy. But I do want
to have you tell a little more about one thing
you mentioned and that's the operant conditioning you use or
the training of a giraffe to have it voluntarily participate
in its own care.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
What exactly is that?
Speaker 5 (11:12):
Like, really, it's super cool because you were saying earlier
Rick about we don't really realize how big they are
and then they put their head down and then you're like,
oh my gosh, this head is like the size of
my body. But that being said, like I've worked with
giraffe for well over a decade and we recently started
a training program to do hoofcare on one of our
(11:33):
bull giraffe and he's one of the biggest boys we have.
You're probably the biggest and my biggest. I mean, these
guys grow up to eighteen feet tall, so I don't
think Goan is quite eighteen feet, but he's getting there,
and so he's a big boy. But I never truly
truly appreciated their size until I was on my knees
trimming his feet and I'm just like, I am like
(11:56):
a beetle to him, Like if he wanted to, yes,
he could just wreck me, but he doesn't because we've
built this relationship with him and he trusts us. He
trusts that we're helping him, and it's like this partnership
between wildlife care specialists and animal and it's like the
coolest thing to see being on the ground and like
(12:16):
looking up at this giant animal. Even for someone like
me who's a little jaded sometimes I'm just like, holy cow,
this is pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
I think that speaks to just the beauty of the
work that we do and we're so fortunate to be
the presence of these animals. But let's go back briefly
to you being there doing the trim down on the ground,
looking up thinking I'm just a beatle to this guy.
Let's talk about size, so people really get a reference
for the size of the hoof as well. So you're
working on kind of trimming that hoof kind of like uh,
(12:45):
you know, trimming the nails, filing it down, keeping it
nice and even and clean. People who have horses know
what that's like, similar to that, and they understand the size.
But you've worked with horses a lot, yeah, and now
you're working with giraffe.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Talk about the differences about the size.
Speaker 5 (12:59):
The giraffe foot's probably about the size of like a
dinner plate, give or take. I guess it depends on
what size your dinner plates are, but it's pretty good
size and a difference between an equid foot, which is
one hoof. A giraffe is an audiodactylid, which that means
it has two hoofs or cloven hoof, and so it's
(13:20):
slightly different in its anatomy. And they're big and they
have to survive a lot of different types of substrates
and getting around sandy areas and rocky areas and going
through grass, and so they're hard, just like an equid
foot is, but they just have two toes instead of one.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
I mean you're talking about this hoof, I mean in
the wild, but giraffe can give a pretty gnarly kick
to a lot getting pre dated on, which really speaks
to the skill set that you guys have with using
operating conditioning techniques to work with these amazing animals.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Right.
Speaker 5 (13:52):
Yeah, it's just building trust and building a relationship. And
I gotta be honest with you, like, especially in the
case of where they really do need a hoof tree
him one hundred percent, if we trim that foot and
he puts that foot down, he'll put it right back
up and is like, think you do some more like
it's so great. They feel it. They can tell that
we've done a difference, and I think that just helps
(14:12):
with the relationship building. But talking more about adaptations, so Draft,
when they're like defending their territory, they have these two
like bony type protrusions.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
From their heads.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
Yeah, osicones. Yeah, And they're not like sometimes people think
they're like antlers, like what a deer has that will
drop off. They're not. They're actually part of their skull
and it's just bony protrusions that they use to like
protect themselves. And this gets even better. He started this
conversation talking about how I love their height. Right, Well,
(14:45):
there's so much science behind how a draft can bend
over to drink water because of blood pressure, and I'm
not going to get into that because it's really sciencey,
and let's be honest, I'm not scient So there's been
studies and thoughts that if you look at a giraffe,
their skin thickness varies depending on places on their body.
(15:06):
So the skin is actually thicker on their torso because
when the males are fighting, that is the spot that
they would hit with their osca cones. And so they've
got this adaptation where their skin's thicker and it creates
almost like an armored layer for them. And I'm going
to go even farther with the skin thickness because then
(15:27):
if you go down into their legs, it's been noted
that their leg skin is really tight, not as thick,
but it's tight. And they think that it's sort of
like them wearing compression socks because they're so tall, and
with gravity and the force of blood and all of that,
they would just get a dima down in their legs
because their legs are so tall, but they don't, and
(15:49):
they're like wearing natural compression socks.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
Wild isn't that amazing? It's amazing?
Speaker 3 (15:53):
You know.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
It makes we're talking with those adaptations, is how unique
each species is, you know, I think like a peregrin falcon.
You're talking about their diving down and a fighter pilot
will block out if they try those type of turns
that a falcon can do. And just thinking the height
of the giraffe and all those unique adaptations for being
so tall, that's crazy.
Speaker 5 (16:09):
So I mean a giraffe's heart is like I think
they say it's like two feet. It's a huge heart.
And think of the amount of blood that they have
to pump to get down to the end of their
extremities or to get the exactly exactly, and so their
heart rate is like way faster than a human's heart
rate because they have to get blood to all of
(16:30):
these areas in the same amount of time that like
we normally would, But I mean that things work in overtime.
All of the anatomy and physiology of these guys is
super cool.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Let's talk some more about the giraffe and some of
the cool facts that make them unique. You know, we
talked about the tongue, the eyes, a great eyesight. You
talked about the oscincnes that they'll use when the males
have to neck or battle each other.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
What about their neck itself.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
It's surprising to many people that they have the same
amount of vertebrae that you and I do. But as
someone who works with them, would you think then that
having seven would make it fairly unflexible? And you think
it's fairly flexible. Let's talk about that adaptation because it's impressive.
Speaker 5 (17:06):
Oh, it's definitely impressive. Yeah, they have the same as us,
but the differences is like those are like ten centimeters long,
and so slightly larger, but that doesn't make them any
less flexible. We already talked about like how they defend themselves,
and so their neck really has to crane around. But
what's interesting with a baby giraffe when they're first born,
(17:27):
if you watch them resting, you'll notice that they rest
with their head kind of laying on their rump. So
if you can imagine that they crane their head all
the way back around their necks long enough that their
head rests on their little butt. Yeah, and it's because
their neck muscles haven't quite developed enough so that they
(17:48):
can fully support their head while they're resting, and so
it just like lays down so they can get some
shd eye. I don't know that I've ever seen an
adult really do it. I probably just haven't paid attention, honestly. Yeah,
I do think that's part of the deal, is that
their neck muscles just aren't as strong as what they
would be as an adult. And honestly, draft in general
(18:11):
don't rest that often. They'll eat up to seventy five
pounds of food a day. Wrap your head around that.
That's a lot of food. And so for them, if
they're taking leaf by leaf off of a tree that
takes them all day. So really they're just browsing, which
is eating leaves all day, and they spend a very
small amount of time actually resting. I think in the
(18:32):
wild it's very rare to see them laying down, and
if they are laying down, there's always somebody that's standing
keeping watch. A little bit different. Out here at the
Safari Park, you'll see like all of our hurd laying
down at a time, except for one getting some sheddie.
But they don't actually close their eyes either. They'll sleep
with their eyes open, kind of like a horse will
do too.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
Oh, I didn't know that.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Yeah, I want to go back to what you said
about the seventy five pounds of leaves as someone who
grew up breaking leaves in the front yard, and I
can remember filling up like a full trash bag of
leaves and picking it up as a kid, So that
was not even close to seventy five pounds.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
So I'm trying to wrap my head around seventy five
pounds of leaves, and I look out here at our
savannah habitat and I'm thinking, if they eat seventy five
pounds every day, these trees would be gone gone, So
talk to me about the process of what you have
to do as a wildlife care specialists to feed our
towers of draft, our herds of giraffe about seventy five
(19:30):
pounds of food every day.
Speaker 5 (19:32):
I love that you brought this up because I'm going
to give a big plug to our horticulture department because yeah, yes, yes,
thank you. Yes. Our brows team up here works tirelessly
to provide brows for our animals and especially for those
that that is their diet. So again, browse is just
(19:54):
basically tree limbs, and so our brows department basically scours
our Browse farm and some other areas across the county.
They'll cut down limbs for us. And then we have
what we call browse poles, which are just giant logs
that are in the ground that have basically a pulley
at the top of it, and so we hang these
(20:17):
tree limbs from it and we pull it all the
way to the top and we try to create as
close as what we could to the wild as we
can for them. So not only do we hang it
twenty feet in the air, we'll hang it ten feet
in the air. We'll hang it five feet in the
air because there's all these different browsing opportunities that if
they were in the wild that they would have, and
(20:38):
so we try to mimic that. Here. We're making sure
that the yearlings and the calves and the two year
olds all have the same opportunity that the big giraffe have,
So we try to mimic that. It's kind of cool though,
because you think that they're browsers, so they're just wanting
the leaves. But from what I've noticed in my experience,
the first thing that they go after is the bark.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Bark.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
Yeah, So they'll go up to any kind of acacia branch.
They'll go and they'll start stripping the bark off of
the limb itself. And then once they got the bark stripped,
then they'll start taking the leaves. And I'm sure there's
probably some nutritional content that they like that more so
than perhaps the leaves.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
So what goes in must come out, Yes, seventy five
pounds a day of leaves high fiber. You had mentioned
they ruminate. They have the multiple chambered stomach that brings
the cud. They chew it up and all that, but
something's got to come out.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
To the other end, it sure does, and it does
so as.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
A wildlifecare specialist, one of our specialties is looking at
and making sure the equality of the poop that comes
out the other and is appropriate because that also is
a tell in their health sometimes.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
As a wildlfcare specialist of draft in a.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Sixty acre habitat, how does one go around cleaning up draft?
Speaker 5 (21:51):
Drobbings, Well, if you're looking for a fucal sample, like
if you need a specific one, then you have to
go full Stocker mode.
Speaker 4 (21:58):
You mean, you're like following this one individual.
Speaker 5 (22:01):
Exactly, and if they're onto you, like they'll give you
the over the shoulder look like stop it, leave me alone.
Then you have to go like find a hillside with
like a spotting scope or binos and you're just like
watching them. But they're giraffe, They're the watchtowers of the savannah.
They're looking at you up on this hill and they're like,
I still see you. I know that you're still doing this.
(22:22):
So that can be a little problematic, but normally they
can't hold it in forever and we end up getting it.
But on a large scale, we're just like cleaning. We
use like tractors and dump trucks, and so we go
through every day and we could never ever have its
spick and span clean like you just it's a twenty
four hour job, but we go through with large equipment
and eventually it gets composted.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
And I love that you brought up the large equipment
that you guys use. Myself in my background more of
the traditional zuit and to San Diego Zoo, it's a
dust pan and a rake and a garbage cant, you know,
for my area to clean it up in a hose,
and you guys are out here with dump trucks and
front scoopers, you know, and the tractors as your main
tools to clean up, which is appropriate. I mean, like
you mentioned multiple species including rhinos and girafts and everybody else,
(23:03):
so a lot bigger scale than what I was taking
care of. But it really is a cool contrast, and
I know that kind of leads us in into just
your experience as a wildlfe care specialists and what you
get to do. What was it One of the things
we always love to talk about when we're talking to
those who are really in the animal care or even
in the conservation side. What was the drew you to
this as a career as a you know what, that's
what I want to do.
Speaker 5 (23:23):
Well, funny you should bring that up, because I actually
have a degree in graphic design and advertising. But it
makes complete sense if I get yes, yes, exactly. Most
people don't. But fortunately for me, I grew up on
a cattle ranch in South Dakota, and so I've been
working hoof stock technically my whole life, and some of
(23:44):
that translates, not all of it, Like it's definitely been
a learning curve for me, especially early on, but having
that basis and background of just general herd knowledge has
made it easier to transition into working with exotic species,
especially in this setting where we're dealing with herds, and
I grew up knowing how to read the behavior and
(24:05):
manage hers, and so it's certainly made it a little
bit easier for me. And then I got my start
here at the Safari Park down at Harder Medical Center,
which is the vet hospital here that's on grounds which
were also very fortunate to have that not a lot
of zoos have their own medical facility, and so I
started down there and I got to work with a
couple legends down there that taught me everything that they
(24:27):
knew and then some. And so I was very fortunate
that I came at a time when I got to
learn from some greats, like they'd worked here a really
long time.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
So let me ask you the why do you do
what you do? You told us, you know, you grew
up on the ranch, You start at the harder hospital
here at the park.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
Why do you stick with it? What is the draw
for you?
Speaker 5 (24:48):
Well, I mean, like I said earlier, if the hardest
part of my day is a giraffic jam, oh, then
that's not so bad. Right. I'm in beautiful southern California.
I get to spend most of my time outside working
with animals that are just amazing individually, but also seeing
(25:12):
their interactions with each other. There was this draft that
was born once and for the longest time we thought
she was a water buck because she was born in
the water buck heard and so you would just see her.
Those were her people. She would just go and hang
out with the water buck. The draft might be like
down on the beach area and she would just be
chilling with the water buck. I think because she was
(25:32):
born next to them, she was like, Oh, these are
my people. Nothing to be afraid of here, and so
it's like seeing those interactions, like who can say that, Yeah,
how many people do you know that could whip out
a story about a draft thinking it was a water
buck And so I don't know. Just getting to work
out here with these amazing species and know that I'm
part of a facility that does a ton of conservation work.
(25:53):
We take care of our animals here but also in
the wild. It's a nice feeling to take home. And
then I work with some of the best people in
the world, the best people that all share a passion
for what they do, and we work in sometimes not
great circumstances in terms of it's one hundred and ten
degrees and we're scooping rhino piles and that kind of dogs. Yes,
(26:18):
you can't even get to your animals because you have
to dig out a gate. But that being said, like
we're all here to serve a purpose and we do
it together, and so it's always cool to be a
part of a really really cool team and we definitely
have that here.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
Very very cool, very cool.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Well, as we wrap it up, what a great opportunity
for us to sit here in this outlook as the
park is just open to the public yet so our
guests know it's just this opportunity to sit out here.
We have some people setting things up, probably hurt some
birds in the background as well. As we're sitting here,
three rhinos came up in the hill behind us, and
the other part of.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
The crash, our hers is over there with some other animals.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Charlie, thank you so much for spending time with us
and filling us in about everything for the draft for
the longest day of the year.
Speaker 5 (26:59):
Thank you guys for having me. I hope you guys
celebrate World Draft Day on the twenty first of June.
There'll be a great celebration and even if you're just
thinking about a giraft, that'll be helping celebrate. So thanks
for having me. Really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Ah, I couldn't have said it, and Petter myself, Charlie.
Celebrating World Diraft Day is about recognizing just how amazing
these majestic animals are, but also about raising awareness when
it comes to giraffe conservation exactly.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and our partners definitely want
everyone to fall in love with the giraffe and other
wildlife as well of course, and that's because part of
caring for something also involves understanding everything about them. That's
why our continued commitment to conservation in the Savannah Hub
is so important for the giraffe as well as the
elephant and rhino species and everyone else out there.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Oh Man, Absolutely right, Rick, And it's totally worth noting
as well that this is not something we can do alone.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Exactly that's right, Marco. That's why we are the San
Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
Exactly right, buddy, You take the words right out of
my mouth.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
It's all about partnerships, the communities and our allies. Without
everyone coming together to do their part our conservation efforts, would.
Speaker 4 (28:08):
It be possible.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
So very true, Marco, and I really want people to
know being an ally to wildlife doesn't mean you have
to be a conservationist somewhere out in.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
The wilds of the world. I mean, sure, that's part
of it.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
But San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance members are making a
difference every time they sign up to be a member
because their membership supports our mission and our work all
over the world, including our conservation scientists out there doing
that stuff.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
Exactly right. We can't thank our members enough. We chease
semos assest.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
For all of your ongoing support, and if you're interested
in becoming a member, it's super easy. Just head over
to our website San Diego Zoo dot org and click
on the membership tap excellent advice.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Marco and you know what, I'm kind of liking the
feel of the Savannah Ah.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
You know what, me too, Buddy, what are you thinking?
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Stick around and maybe do one more episode about Savannah Hub.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
That's an awesome idea.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
All right, everyone, be sure to subscribe and to get
into our next episode, in which Mark and I explore
the Amazing Wildlife from the Savannah Hub.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
I'm Marco Went and I'm Rick Schwartz.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Thanks for listening.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
For more information about the San Diego Zoo and San
Diego Zoo Safari Park, go to SVZWA dot org. Amazing
Wildlife is a production of iHeartRadio's Ruby Studios. Our supervising
producer is Nikkia Swinton and our sound designer and editor
is Sierra Spreen. For more shows from iHeartRadio, check out
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
(29:34):
your favorite shows.
Hi, I'm Rick Schwartz Bundles the s World. I'm Marco Wentz.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to Amazing Wildlife, where we explore unique stories of
wildlife from around the world and uncover fascinating animal facts.
This podcast is a production of Iheartradios, Ruby Studios and
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, an international nonprofit conservation organization
which oversees the San.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Diego Zoo and Safari Park. Hey, Rick, what's up, Marco?
Speaker 4 (00:28):
I was kind of thinking we should probably do another
episode featuring the Savannah Conservation Hub.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Oh yeah, what did you have in mind? I'm thinking
let's see santavanah, elephants, rhinos.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Oh, I know you're the bird guy, so it's gotta
be Ostrich's. Oh no, no hornbills.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Right, you know it's not a bad guest. But hold on,
hold on, let me ask you this. Did you know
that the day with the longest amount of sunlight in
the northern hemisphere it's coming up right now, really close,
June twenty first this year.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Well, yes, I did know that.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
And so you're the bird guy and you just mentioned
the longest day of the year and you want to
talk about the Savannah Hub. So I am going to conclude,
because I'm a smart person, that you want to talk
about the ostrich is the longest bird alive today anyhow,
when measured from the ground up.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Oh man, that's pretty solid. Guess I gotta say you
do know me very well, buddy. But believe it or not,
I actually wasn't thinking about a bird this time.
Speaker 5 (01:20):
What really?
Speaker 4 (01:22):
I know, shocking.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
I know everything's good, But okay, I don't say you
need to go to the doctor.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Nothing is wrong with the world. I still love birds. However,
maybe maybe this will help you.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Right, I'm gonna give you a little clue. World Giraffe
Day is also on June twenty first, how's that for
a cloth.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Ah, That's true.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Someone had a brilliant idea not too long ago to
make the longest day of the year in the Northern
Hemisphere World Girafe Day, to honor the long legged, long
necked giraffe.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
That's exactly right, and that's why we should head back
to the Savannah Hub. So we featured the amazing the
imprint or not the giraffe in today's episode.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Doesn't sound like too much of a stretch to me.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Let's do it nice, excellent. I have one more.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Idea for this episode though, Well, yeah, what's that?
Speaker 4 (02:04):
Okay, what if.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
We leave the studio and head up to my home
away from home, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, right,
and we should talk to one of the wildlife care
specialists who works with girafts on a day to day basis.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
That's a great idea. I'm in let's go.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
I am Charlie Hyde. I'm a lead wildlife care specialist
here at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. I have
worked here at the park for about fifteen years.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Charlie.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
First of all, thanks for taking the time. This is
awesome and we're at a really beautiful spot.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
So just for all the guests who that are listening in,
and we might hear some birds stirping, we might even
hear some of our wonderful wildlife in front of us.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
I see a rhino right in front of you right now.
So this is really great.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
This is one of the most unique things about the
Safari Buck. I think it's these types of habitats where
you see these multi species examples right from Africa and
from Asia.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Can you describe a little about this area for us
for yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
Of course. So right now, we're overlooking one of our
savannah habitat that's multi species, which means it just has
a diversity of animals out there, one of which is giraffe,
another's rhinos like you just mentioned. And so we are
able to take care of these animals in more of
a setting that's indicative to their natural habitat, so a
little less like being brought into barns and that kind
(03:18):
of stuff, and more so they're kind of living their
best life out in a big field habitat. The habitat
we're looking at is about sixty acres, so it's pretty
good size where they get to shake about and move
their feet around. Yeah, I've worked out in the field
now in this apartment for oh shoot, it's it's been
over a decade for sure. But it's one of those
things where like you come in in the morning and
(03:40):
like you're trying to get somewhere, you have somewhere to be,
like you need to go and get this animal's feel
sample or something like that. Yeah, and you can't get
there because there's a giraffic jam in friends of view,
and so you have to wait for this herd of
giraffe or a tower if you will, that's what they're called.
To move off the road, you can like continue on
(04:01):
your way.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
And I love the fact that you mentioned the giraffic jam.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
It's a real problem here at the park, yes.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
And that kind of leads us into why we want
to talk to you today. We are heading into just
a few days away from the longest day of the year.
It's Draft Day, World Draft Day. Yeah, the longest day
of the year, and we wanted to talk to you
about why the giraffe has all these long adaptations and
what they are. So I think my first question for
you is going to be what is your favorite giraffe adaptation?
(04:33):
What's the one thing about giraffes that's like your favorite
thing that whenever you see them or acknowledge, aside from
the fact that the group of them called the tower,
which is pretty cool, but what's your favorite thing about
a draft adaptation?
Speaker 5 (04:43):
Well, I mean, there's so many it's really hard to
pick just one. And honestly, this is going to seem
like a lame example and probably one that everyone says,
but they're the tallest land mammal in existence, and just
the fact that especially on these field enclosures where there's
so many other species that rely on their instincts. And
what I mean is is that if a giraffe stands
(05:04):
at attention, every animal is aware that there's something going on.
Because of their height, they can see all of these
things from far away, and they're the watchtowers of the savannah,
and all the animals that they're dealing with or that
they share a space with, are very adept to that
they're aware. And so if a draft takes off running,
the entire habitat will take off running. They don't have
(05:28):
any idea why. They're just like if the drafa is running,
we all need to be running. And it could be
like a kid that has happy feet, which is just
they're kicking out their feet and having a grand ole time,
you know, but it could be something really important too,
like you never know what exactly is going on out
in the habitat. And so I think that's just a
really cool example of dealing with these animals and a
(05:48):
mixed species habitat and just seeing how they all interact
with each other, and their height plays a really big
part in that.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
So going further into the watchtower concept, then I must
admit when I've had the opportunity to GetUp close in
first giraffes, I just fall in love with their big
brown eyes. Yeah, and those eyelashes and the look that
they have so part of that watch tower.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
They've got really good vision, isn't that correct?
Speaker 5 (06:10):
Correct? Yeah, I do know that they have excellent vision
that they see from a long ways away. They have
those beautiful eyelashes to protect their eyes from the sun
and from dirt and sand getting in there.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
And those big old eyelashes too.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
Oh my gosh, they're so pretty.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
You've work together for years too, you know. I am
definitely the bird guy.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
But oh man, like Rick fall in love with giraffe.
Everyone gets excited when they see grafts.
Speaker 5 (06:31):
So cool too, because especially here, there's not always opportunity
to be like head level with them, so it seems
like we're we're always working a little bit from a
lower vantage point because we're working with them on the
back of vehicles. So when they look down, they bend
their head down and they like they are face to
face with you. I swear it's like they're looking into
(06:54):
your soul. You can see your reflection and their eyeballs.
In fact, I know other wildlife care specialists have pictures
of the reflection from what they're seeing on their eye.
It's just super cool. They're just so.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Neat and to play in so our audience knows to
play in.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Further to that that idea of a draft, you know,
kind of bending down and coming into that eye level
for us, you then get a whole new appreciation.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
For just how big their heads are. Yes, I mean yes, yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
I think because of where we stand versus where they stand,
we don't get a full concept of the fact that
their heads about the size of our torso when we
talk about nose to the back of the head, and
they're just so massive, it's so impressive. But also, and
as much as they can inflict damage by swinging their head,
they're also so incredibly gentle with us in this space
(07:42):
at least is almost surreal to have something that large
moving so quietly and gently. But it does bring me
to the next the next point. Usually when they're coming
in that close, it's because we might have a snack
that they would like absolutely and suddenly they open their
mouth and this giant tongue comes out. Can you tell
us about that? At adaptation of the tongue, all the
things about it, why it's important for them, how they
(08:03):
use it, et cetera.
Speaker 5 (08:04):
Yeah, for sure, So draffe get their adaptation of their
height is because they like to eat trees, and trees
on the savannah are tall, and so they had to
grow tall to eat these trees. Well, another thing about
trees that are from Africa is a lot of them
have thorns, and so there's so many adaptations that a
(08:25):
giraffe has that we could talk at length about them.
But yeah, oh we got it.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
Man, I'm surrounded by puns today, everybody.
Speaker 5 (08:35):
So the length of their tongue, I'm gonna say it
goes about eighteen centimeters long, and it's dark. If you've
ever seen a draft tongue, you'll notice that its coloration
is dark, and that's to protect it from the sun
because they spend the majority of their time with their
tongue out because they're what we would call browsing, and
browsing is literally just eating leaves off of a tree.
But because they have to delicately get these leaves around
(08:58):
these thorns, they have a prehensile tongue, so that means
their tongue is able to wrap around leaves and take
it from the limb and then they can eat it.
It doesn't stop there, though. You'll notice that giraffe have
like really thick saliva. If you've ever had an opportunity
to hand feed a giraffe or even just see a
giraffe eating, you'll notice that they get this long string
(09:20):
of saliva that'll go all the way to the ground.
Like we joke. Sometimes you'll see it like blowing in
the wind. That's really funny, But there's a point to it.
The reason that it's so thick and almost not gelatinous
but really close. It's really thick is because it coats
the thorns and it makes it easier for them to
swallow and digest, and so it essentially kind of protects
(09:41):
themselves on the inside from this thorny piece of acacia
that they just swallowed and then are going to ruminate.
And if their babies help them grow big and strong.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Can you tell the.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Two because we're talking right now and I'm looking over
your shoulder and just area is just it's so beautiful
light here ternlie right every day, especial with the safari
b what's it like a typical day like coming out
to this large savannah habitat what's that like.
Speaker 5 (10:05):
Well, so we come out, we drive around and pickup
trucks essentially, and that's how we feed. Ye yeah, different
than right, Yeah, for sure. So we'll throw a bunch
of like hay and bags of feet on the back
of the truck and we'll drive around the habitat. Essentially,
we make sure every animal is accounted for, big and small.
So we make sure all of our Thompson's gazelles are there.
(10:27):
We make sure all the giraffe are there.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
So that's a lot.
Speaker 5 (10:30):
That's a lot. Yeah, And so we go around and
while we're feeding, we count everyone, make sure everyone's happy
and healthy and getting around the habitat just fine. And
then we try to dedicate part of our day for
like training programs and operant conditioning, any sort of enrichment
that we can do. Or a lot of times we
have procedures and stuff that we have to deal with too.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
I'd be willing to bet a lot of our listeners
aren't too surprised to hear about everything you just listed there, Charlie.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
You know, with the care and the.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Feeding, making sure everyone is healthy. But I do want
to have you tell a little more about one thing
you mentioned and that's the operant conditioning you use or
the training of a giraffe to have it voluntarily participate
in its own care.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
What exactly is that?
Speaker 5 (11:12):
Like, really, it's super cool because you were saying earlier
Rick about we don't really realize how big they are
and then they put their head down and then you're like,
oh my gosh, this head is like the size of
my body. But that being said, like I've worked with
giraffe for well over a decade and we recently started
a training program to do hoofcare on one of our
(11:33):
bull giraffe and he's one of the biggest boys we have.
You're probably the biggest and my biggest. I mean, these
guys grow up to eighteen feet tall, so I don't
think Goan is quite eighteen feet, but he's getting there,
and so he's a big boy. But I never truly
truly appreciated their size until I was on my knees
trimming his feet and I'm just like, I am like
(11:56):
a beetle to him, Like if he wanted to, yes,
he could just wreck me, but he doesn't because we've
built this relationship with him and he trusts us. He
trusts that we're helping him, and it's like this partnership
between wildlife care specialists and animal and it's like the
coolest thing to see being on the ground and like
(12:16):
looking up at this giant animal. Even for someone like
me who's a little jaded sometimes I'm just like, holy cow,
this is pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
I think that speaks to just the beauty of the
work that we do and we're so fortunate to be
the presence of these animals. But let's go back briefly
to you being there doing the trim down on the ground,
looking up thinking I'm just a beatle to this guy.
Let's talk about size, so people really get a reference
for the size of the hoof as well. So you're
working on kind of trimming that hoof kind of like uh,
(12:45):
you know, trimming the nails, filing it down, keeping it
nice and even and clean. People who have horses know
what that's like, similar to that, and they understand the size.
But you've worked with horses a lot, yeah, and now
you're working with giraffe.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Talk about the differences about the size.
Speaker 5 (12:59):
The giraffe foot's probably about the size of like a
dinner plate, give or take. I guess it depends on
what size your dinner plates are, but it's pretty good
size and a difference between an equid foot, which is
one hoof. A giraffe is an audiodactylid, which that means
it has two hoofs or cloven hoof, and so it's
(13:20):
slightly different in its anatomy. And they're big and they
have to survive a lot of different types of substrates
and getting around sandy areas and rocky areas and going
through grass, and so they're hard, just like an equid
foot is, but they just have two toes instead of one.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
I mean you're talking about this hoof, I mean in
the wild, but giraffe can give a pretty gnarly kick
to a lot getting pre dated on, which really speaks
to the skill set that you guys have with using
operating conditioning techniques to work with these amazing animals.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Right.
Speaker 5 (13:52):
Yeah, it's just building trust and building a relationship. And
I gotta be honest with you, like, especially in the
case of where they really do need a hoof tree
him one hundred percent, if we trim that foot and
he puts that foot down, he'll put it right back
up and is like, think you do some more like
it's so great. They feel it. They can tell that
we've done a difference, and I think that just helps
(14:12):
with the relationship building. But talking more about adaptations, so Draft,
when they're like defending their territory, they have these two
like bony type protrusions.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
From their heads.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
Yeah, osicones. Yeah, And they're not like sometimes people think
they're like antlers, like what a deer has that will
drop off. They're not. They're actually part of their skull
and it's just bony protrusions that they use to like
protect themselves. And this gets even better. He started this
conversation talking about how I love their height. Right, Well,
(14:45):
there's so much science behind how a draft can bend
over to drink water because of blood pressure, and I'm
not going to get into that because it's really sciencey,
and let's be honest, I'm not scient So there's been
studies and thoughts that if you look at a giraffe,
their skin thickness varies depending on places on their body.
(15:06):
So the skin is actually thicker on their torso because
when the males are fighting, that is the spot that
they would hit with their osca cones. And so they've
got this adaptation where their skin's thicker and it creates
almost like an armored layer for them. And I'm going
to go even farther with the skin thickness because then
(15:27):
if you go down into their legs, it's been noted
that their leg skin is really tight, not as thick,
but it's tight. And they think that it's sort of
like them wearing compression socks because they're so tall, and
with gravity and the force of blood and all of that,
they would just get a dima down in their legs
because their legs are so tall, but they don't, and
(15:49):
they're like wearing natural compression socks.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
Wild isn't that amazing? It's amazing?
Speaker 3 (15:53):
You know.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
It makes we're talking with those adaptations, is how unique
each species is, you know, I think like a peregrin falcon.
You're talking about their diving down and a fighter pilot
will block out if they try those type of turns
that a falcon can do. And just thinking the height
of the giraffe and all those unique adaptations for being
so tall, that's crazy.
Speaker 5 (16:09):
So I mean a giraffe's heart is like I think
they say it's like two feet. It's a huge heart.
And think of the amount of blood that they have
to pump to get down to the end of their
extremities or to get the exactly exactly, and so their
heart rate is like way faster than a human's heart
rate because they have to get blood to all of
(16:30):
these areas in the same amount of time that like
we normally would, But I mean that things work in overtime.
All of the anatomy and physiology of these guys is
super cool.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Let's talk some more about the giraffe and some of
the cool facts that make them unique. You know, we
talked about the tongue, the eyes, a great eyesight. You
talked about the oscincnes that they'll use when the males
have to neck or battle each other.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
What about their neck itself.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
It's surprising to many people that they have the same
amount of vertebrae that you and I do. But as
someone who works with them, would you think then that
having seven would make it fairly unflexible? And you think
it's fairly flexible. Let's talk about that adaptation because it's impressive.
Speaker 5 (17:06):
Oh, it's definitely impressive. Yeah, they have the same as us,
but the differences is like those are like ten centimeters long,
and so slightly larger, but that doesn't make them any
less flexible. We already talked about like how they defend themselves,
and so their neck really has to crane around. But
what's interesting with a baby giraffe when they're first born,
(17:27):
if you watch them resting, you'll notice that they rest
with their head kind of laying on their rump. So
if you can imagine that they crane their head all
the way back around their necks long enough that their
head rests on their little butt. Yeah, and it's because
their neck muscles haven't quite developed enough so that they
(17:48):
can fully support their head while they're resting, and so
it just like lays down so they can get some
shd eye. I don't know that I've ever seen an
adult really do it. I probably just haven't paid attention, honestly. Yeah,
I do think that's part of the deal, is that
their neck muscles just aren't as strong as what they
would be as an adult. And honestly, draft in general
(18:11):
don't rest that often. They'll eat up to seventy five
pounds of food a day. Wrap your head around that.
That's a lot of food. And so for them, if
they're taking leaf by leaf off of a tree that
takes them all day. So really they're just browsing, which
is eating leaves all day, and they spend a very
small amount of time actually resting. I think in the
(18:32):
wild it's very rare to see them laying down, and
if they are laying down, there's always somebody that's standing
keeping watch. A little bit different. Out here at the
Safari Park, you'll see like all of our hurd laying
down at a time, except for one getting some sheddie.
But they don't actually close their eyes either. They'll sleep
with their eyes open, kind of like a horse will
do too.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
Oh, I didn't know that.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Yeah, I want to go back to what you said
about the seventy five pounds of leaves as someone who
grew up breaking leaves in the front yard, and I
can remember filling up like a full trash bag of
leaves and picking it up as a kid, So that
was not even close to seventy five pounds.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
So I'm trying to wrap my head around seventy five
pounds of leaves, and I look out here at our
savannah habitat and I'm thinking, if they eat seventy five
pounds every day, these trees would be gone gone, So
talk to me about the process of what you have
to do as a wildlife care specialists to feed our
towers of draft, our herds of giraffe about seventy five
(19:30):
pounds of food every day.
Speaker 5 (19:32):
I love that you brought this up because I'm going
to give a big plug to our horticulture department because yeah, yes, yes,
thank you. Yes. Our brows team up here works tirelessly
to provide brows for our animals and especially for those
that that is their diet. So again, browse is just
(19:54):
basically tree limbs, and so our brows department basically scours
our Browse farm and some other areas across the county.
They'll cut down limbs for us. And then we have
what we call browse poles, which are just giant logs
that are in the ground that have basically a pulley
at the top of it, and so we hang these
(20:17):
tree limbs from it and we pull it all the
way to the top and we try to create as
close as what we could to the wild as we
can for them. So not only do we hang it
twenty feet in the air, we'll hang it ten feet
in the air. We'll hang it five feet in the
air because there's all these different browsing opportunities that if
they were in the wild that they would have, and
(20:38):
so we try to mimic that. Here. We're making sure
that the yearlings and the calves and the two year
olds all have the same opportunity that the big giraffe have,
So we try to mimic that. It's kind of cool though,
because you think that they're browsers, so they're just wanting
the leaves. But from what I've noticed in my experience,
the first thing that they go after is the bark.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Bark.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
Yeah, So they'll go up to any kind of acacia branch.
They'll go and they'll start stripping the bark off of
the limb itself. And then once they got the bark stripped,
then they'll start taking the leaves. And I'm sure there's
probably some nutritional content that they like that more so
than perhaps the leaves.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
So what goes in must come out, Yes, seventy five
pounds a day of leaves high fiber. You had mentioned
they ruminate. They have the multiple chambered stomach that brings
the cud. They chew it up and all that, but
something's got to come out.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
To the other end, it sure does, and it does
so as.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
A wildlifecare specialist, one of our specialties is looking at
and making sure the equality of the poop that comes
out the other and is appropriate because that also is
a tell in their health sometimes.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
As a wildlfcare specialist of draft in a.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Sixty acre habitat, how does one go around cleaning up draft?
Speaker 5 (21:51):
Drobbings, Well, if you're looking for a fucal sample, like
if you need a specific one, then you have to
go full Stocker mode.
Speaker 4 (21:58):
You mean, you're like following this one individual.
Speaker 5 (22:01):
Exactly, and if they're onto you, like they'll give you
the over the shoulder look like stop it, leave me alone.
Then you have to go like find a hillside with
like a spotting scope or binos and you're just like
watching them. But they're giraffe, They're the watchtowers of the savannah.
They're looking at you up on this hill and they're like,
I still see you. I know that you're still doing this.
(22:22):
So that can be a little problematic, but normally they
can't hold it in forever and we end up getting it.
But on a large scale, we're just like cleaning. We
use like tractors and dump trucks, and so we go
through every day and we could never ever have its
spick and span clean like you just it's a twenty
four hour job, but we go through with large equipment
and eventually it gets composted.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
And I love that you brought up the large equipment
that you guys use. Myself in my background more of
the traditional zuit and to San Diego Zoo, it's a
dust pan and a rake and a garbage cant, you know,
for my area to clean it up in a hose,
and you guys are out here with dump trucks and
front scoopers, you know, and the tractors as your main
tools to clean up, which is appropriate. I mean, like
you mentioned multiple species including rhinos and girafts and everybody else,
(23:03):
so a lot bigger scale than what I was taking
care of. But it really is a cool contrast, and
I know that kind of leads us in into just
your experience as a wildlfe care specialists and what you
get to do. What was it One of the things
we always love to talk about when we're talking to
those who are really in the animal care or even
in the conservation side. What was the drew you to
this as a career as a you know what, that's
what I want to do.
Speaker 5 (23:23):
Well, funny you should bring that up, because I actually
have a degree in graphic design and advertising. But it
makes complete sense if I get yes, yes, exactly. Most
people don't. But fortunately for me, I grew up on
a cattle ranch in South Dakota, and so I've been
working hoof stock technically my whole life, and some of
(23:44):
that translates, not all of it, Like it's definitely been
a learning curve for me, especially early on, but having
that basis and background of just general herd knowledge has
made it easier to transition into working with exotic species,
especially in this setting where we're dealing with herds, and
I grew up knowing how to read the behavior and
(24:05):
manage hers, and so it's certainly made it a little
bit easier for me. And then I got my start
here at the Safari Park down at Harder Medical Center,
which is the vet hospital here that's on grounds which
were also very fortunate to have that not a lot
of zoos have their own medical facility, and so I
started down there and I got to work with a
couple legends down there that taught me everything that they
(24:27):
knew and then some. And so I was very fortunate
that I came at a time when I got to
learn from some greats, like they'd worked here a really
long time.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
So let me ask you the why do you do
what you do? You told us, you know, you grew
up on the ranch, You start at the harder hospital
here at the park.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
Why do you stick with it? What is the draw
for you?
Speaker 5 (24:48):
Well, I mean, like I said earlier, if the hardest
part of my day is a giraffic jam, oh, then
that's not so bad. Right. I'm in beautiful southern California.
I get to spend most of my time outside working
with animals that are just amazing individually, but also seeing
(25:12):
their interactions with each other. There was this draft that
was born once and for the longest time we thought
she was a water buck because she was born in
the water buck heard and so you would just see her.
Those were her people. She would just go and hang
out with the water buck. The draft might be like
down on the beach area and she would just be
chilling with the water buck. I think because she was
(25:32):
born next to them, she was like, Oh, these are
my people. Nothing to be afraid of here, and so
it's like seeing those interactions, like who can say that, Yeah,
how many people do you know that could whip out
a story about a draft thinking it was a water
buck And so I don't know. Just getting to work
out here with these amazing species and know that I'm
part of a facility that does a ton of conservation work.
(25:53):
We take care of our animals here but also in
the wild. It's a nice feeling to take home. And
then I work with some of the best people in
the world, the best people that all share a passion
for what they do, and we work in sometimes not
great circumstances in terms of it's one hundred and ten
degrees and we're scooping rhino piles and that kind of dogs. Yes,
(26:18):
you can't even get to your animals because you have
to dig out a gate. But that being said, like
we're all here to serve a purpose and we do
it together, and so it's always cool to be a
part of a really really cool team and we definitely
have that here.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
Very very cool, very cool.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Well, as we wrap it up, what a great opportunity
for us to sit here in this outlook as the
park is just open to the public yet so our
guests know it's just this opportunity to sit out here.
We have some people setting things up, probably hurt some
birds in the background as well. As we're sitting here,
three rhinos came up in the hill behind us, and
the other part of.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
The crash, our hers is over there with some other animals.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Charlie, thank you so much for spending time with us
and filling us in about everything for the draft for
the longest day of the year.
Speaker 5 (26:59):
Thank you guys for having me. I hope you guys
celebrate World Draft Day on the twenty first of June.
There'll be a great celebration and even if you're just
thinking about a giraft, that'll be helping celebrate. So thanks
for having me. Really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Ah, I couldn't have said it, and Petter myself, Charlie.
Celebrating World Diraft Day is about recognizing just how amazing
these majestic animals are, but also about raising awareness when
it comes to giraffe conservation exactly.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and our partners definitely want
everyone to fall in love with the giraffe and other
wildlife as well of course, and that's because part of
caring for something also involves understanding everything about them. That's
why our continued commitment to conservation in the Savannah Hub
is so important for the giraffe as well as the
elephant and rhino species and everyone else out there.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Oh Man, Absolutely right, Rick, And it's totally worth noting
as well that this is not something we can do alone.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Exactly that's right, Marco. That's why we are the San
Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
Exactly right, buddy, You take the words right out of
my mouth.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
It's all about partnerships, the communities and our allies. Without
everyone coming together to do their part our conservation efforts, would.
Speaker 4 (28:08):
It be possible.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
So very true, Marco, and I really want people to
know being an ally to wildlife doesn't mean you have
to be a conservationist somewhere out in.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
The wilds of the world. I mean, sure, that's part
of it.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
But San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance members are making a
difference every time they sign up to be a member
because their membership supports our mission and our work all
over the world, including our conservation scientists out there doing
that stuff.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
Exactly right. We can't thank our members enough. We chease
semos assest.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
For all of your ongoing support, and if you're interested
in becoming a member, it's super easy. Just head over
to our website San Diego Zoo dot org and click
on the membership tap excellent advice.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Marco and you know what, I'm kind of liking the
feel of the Savannah Ah.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
You know what, me too, Buddy, what are you thinking?
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Stick around and maybe do one more episode about Savannah Hub.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
That's an awesome idea.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
All right, everyone, be sure to subscribe and to get
into our next episode, in which Mark and I explore
the Amazing Wildlife from the Savannah Hub.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
I'm Marco Went and I'm Rick Schwartz.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Thanks for listening.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
For more information about the San Diego Zoo and San
Diego Zoo Safari Park, go to SVZWA dot org. Amazing
Wildlife is a production of iHeartRadio's Ruby Studios. Our supervising
producer is Nikkia Swinton and our sound designer and editor
is Sierra Spreen. For more shows from iHeartRadio, check out
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
(29:34):
your favorite shows.
Hosts And Creators
Rick Schwartz
Marco Wendt
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