NewsCovering the Nation

Actions

Daisy the giraffe dies at the Omaha Zoo

Posted at 11:28 PM, Dec 18, 2019
and last updated 2019-12-18 23:28:01-05

Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo announced the death of Daisy, a 26-year-old female giraffe, on Wednesday.

Daisy was the oldest giraffe to ever live at the zoo. The average life expectancy for a female giraffe is about 20.2 years.

She was born on March 7, 1993 and had been a resident at Omaha's zoo since Nov. 1, 1994.

Daisy was the mother to three calves, a grandmother to seven and a great-grandmother to five, according to the zoo.

Her daughter, Dottie, and granddaughters LoLo, Zoey and Penelope live in the zoo's African Grasslands habitat. Other family members have moved to different zoos.

The zoo says Daisy was humanely euthanized after assessing her quality of life with severe degenerative joint disease. Daisy had been losing weight and becoming unsteady.

She was a reticulated giraffe--a species of giraffe that is now listed as endangered with less than 16,000 left in the wild.

This article was written by Danielle Meadows for KMTV .