The Giraffe house is the newest, most modern and, of course, the most visited animal house in the Riga Zoo.

Here the visitors can see four Baringo male giraffes: Piks, Periskops, Usmi and Kimi. When the weather is warm, it is possible to see them wandering around their spacious enclosure and eating from the feeder placed right in the middle of the enclosure. However, when the weather is too cold and dank for outdoor activities, the giraffes may be seen inside the two-storey giraffe house.

Here the visitors of the Zoo have an opportunity to see that the giraffes indeed are the tallest land animals. Grid feeders are positioned so that the giraffes can reach them easily and the visitors can see the giraffes very well because the feeders are placed next to a wall of glass. While giraffes are eating, their long and dexterous tongues can be seen bending like snakes, reaching through the grid, grabbing the lucerne hay or picking the leaves of the branches. Once in a while the visitors can see how the male giraffes are “fighting” with their long necks. It is worth staying in the giraffe house, sitting and observing these interesting animals.

Construction of the new giraffe house lasted from 2005 until 2007. It was built to house 4-5 giraffes and in the respect of the instructions of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria regarding the welfare of the giraffes and at the moment it is one of the most modern giraffe houses in Europe. In the giraffe house, there is a 2000 square meter large promenade, a 200 square meter large roofed enclosure and an indoors system that is 170 square meters large. In September 2007 the Riga Zoo welcomed the first residents of the giraffe house: Baringo male giraffes Piks and Periskops that came from the Poznan Zoo in Poland. That moment marked the beginning of our participation in the protection program of endangered giraffe species. Baringo giraffe is the rarest giraffe species to be found in the wild: it is estimated that there are only about 500 Baringo giraffes living in the wild. While we are still gaining experience at taking care of these big, graceful animals, we will keep only male giraffes.