Family reunion as giraffe Zuri arrives in Wellington

Family reunion as giraffe Zuri arrives in Wellington

Wellington Zoo played host to a family reunion of three generations of giraffes this morning, not that the animals would know it.

One-year-old Zuri, a Rothschild giraffe, arrived in the capital from Auckland Zoo late on Monday and on Tuesday morning came bounding out of her crate in the zoo's savannah enclosure.

Family reunion as giraffe Zuri arrives in Wellington

(Simon Wong / Newshub.)

She wasted no time in getting to know her new surroundings which was the best case scenario for Wellington Zoo animal science manager Simon Eyre.

"It all went very smoothly. It all took about 40 minutes to move her up from the car park through the entire zoo and into the savannah habitat and there we got her in place and she came out very quickly, she's now been exploring around and eating a bit of food so she's doing really well," he said.

Family reunion as giraffe Zuri arrives in Wellington

(Simon Wong / Newshub.)

Her excitement was to be expected from a youngster, he said.

"She's a one-year-old, she's very excitable and she's just excited to get out of the crate she's been in for 24 hours."

The arrival was met with a bit of curiosity by the other residents in the savannah including one of the ostriches, which shares the area with the giraffes.

Family reunion as giraffe Zuri arrives in Wellington

(Simon Wong / Newshub.)

Zuri joins her aunt Zahara and grandmother Tisa who are already resident in Wellington.

Zuri's mum was born in Wellington, but moved up to Auckland in 2002.

But Mr Eyre says they wouldn't know they were related at all, but didn't expect any trouble.

"Female giraffes are very social, so we don't anticipate any issues when we introduce them. They'll have access around each other, but they won't be in the same space until we can gauge how they're all getting on."

Family reunion as giraffe Zuri arrives in Wellington

(Simon Wong / Newshub.)

While the process to get her into the savannah took much less time than expected, the planning before it took about a year.

It included a bit of manoeuvring and through Wellington's streets because of the bus cables which run through the main part of town.

 

The four-metre high crate on the back of a one-metre high truck meant the great migration needed to be done carefully and slowly.

Zuri left Auckland Zoo around 10am on Monday and arrived around midnight, stopping in a number of places including Taupo, Tokoroa, Bulls and Waiouru.

Auckland Zoo has transported giraffes before, with one trip to Hamilton but the North Island road trip was the longest they'd done.

Newshub.