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Taronga's new giraffes 'curious' about Sydney

Posted November 26, 2008 10:05:00
Updated November 26, 2008 14:32:00

Ntombi, a 16-month-old female giraffe, is lowered by crane from a cargo ship. (AAP: Tracey Nearmy)

• Map: Port Botany 2036

Two giraffes have arrived in Sydney from New Zealand's Auckland Zoo to join breeding programs in Australia.

Ntombi and Forrest arrived at Port Botany this morning and were unloaded from the ANL Yarrunga by crane.

They will now begin making their way to Western Plains Zoo at Dubbo, in the New South Wales central west, by truck.

Mark Williams from Taronga Zoo says transporting a giraffe might seem like a challenge, but they travel in custom-built crates.

"We've got specially built crates for those animals, which are sort of half-hooded, so they've got some shelter at one end and they can look out," he said.

"They're quite curious, they like to see what's going on, so if you just imagine a very tall, wooden box with a giraffe's head poking out the top of it."

Tags: human-interest, animals, rural, veterinary-medicine, science-and-technology, animals, scitech-offbeat, zoos, australia, nsw, dubbo-2830, port-botany-2036, sydney-2000, new-zealand