An investigation of browsing enrichment, especially non‐leaf foraging, on giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata) at Kyoto City Zoo in Japan

Browsing enrichment may aid in developing species‐specific behaviors for giraffes managed in zoos as a means of improving animal welfare. By nature, giraffes are tree‐feeding animals, including tree bark, but the extent of food other than leaves as a form of browsing enrichment has not been well investigated. Therefore, to investigate the effectiveness of non‐leaf foraging, three giraffes at the Kyoto City Zoo in Japan were observed for 228 h from May 2019 to February 2020. In conjunction with behavioral instantaneous sampling, tree use (landscape tree or enrichment branch) and plant part (leaves, twigs, or barks) were recorded by the 1‐0 sampling method. There was no significant change in the foraging behavior on the leaves of enriched branches, nor was there any significant change in the foraging behavior of the giraffes, except for one animal in the deciduous phase. No significant changes were observed in rumination or other behaviors between the two phases. Although vegetation foraging behavior significantly decreased, except for one animal, dry hay foraging behavior significantly increased in all the animals during the deciduous phase. Some individuals also showed a significant increase in the foraging behavior for non‐leafy parts of the enrichment branches (twigs and bark) during the deciduous phase. This suggests that in some tree species, giraffes forage on the bark and twigs to compensate for the loss of leaves during the deciduous phase, similar to feeding on hay or hay cubes as a substitute for tree leaves. During the deciduous season, we observed an increase in twig and bark selection by the giraffes. Therefore, it is possible that providing the giraffes with species with edible barks could compensate for the decrease in leaf foraging.