This pilot study evaluates the nutritional quality of giraffe diet and faeces, revealing potential phosphorus limitations.
Food preference and selection of free‐ranging giraffes have been well recorded, but limited data concerning the chemical composition of their diet and faeces are currently available. This pilot study added information on natural diet, nutritional quality and a description of faecal chemical composition of free‐ranging giraffe in the Free State Province, South Africa. Measured crude protein levels in leaves were lower compared to previous reports. The leaf calcium (Ca) content was higher than the phosphorus (P) content in all samples, supporting concepts that giraffe may be P but not Ca limited. In the faecal samples of the present study, nitrogen and P concentrations were above the thresholds considered indicative of nutritional deficiency.
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Pardave et al. (2025) studied this question.
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