King-Sized Kink : Despite Zigzag Neck, Giraffe Acts Like Any Other

It sounds like something from the far reaches of Dr. Seuss’ mind--a giraffe with a crooked neck.

But just such an animal grazes in the lush confines of the Santa Barbara Zoo: a 7-year-old female Baringo giraffe whose neck, for reasons yet unknown, zigzags at a startling 45-degree angle.

Veterinarians and other medical experts are baffled by the bizarre condition, which has been documented only once before--92 years ago, in a British zoological journal.

“I’d never seen anything like that at any other zoo,” said veterinarian Tim Overskei, who has been observing the creature since he joined the zoo staff four months ago. “I think it’s a miracle she’s alive.”

The 12-foot-tall animal does not appear to be in any discomfort and has remained on public view. But its freakish appearance posed a peculiar problem for the 30-year-old zoo: What does a zoo do with an animal that is flawed--particularly a zoo in a city where beauty and perfection are expected? Was the giraffe an embarrassment--or a marketing bonanza?

As it turned out, she has been neither. Zoo officials have been careful not to exploit the giraffe’s unusual appearance to draw crowds. “We didn’t want her to be a circus sideshow,” said Nancy Hollenbeck, the zoo’s assistant director. “That’s not the image we’re trying to convey.”

Aware that the giraffe’s appearance may puzzle or alarm visitors, the zoo posted a sign at the animal’s grassy enclosure: “The young female giraffe has a neck deformity; we are aware of the problem and are monitoring it daily. She is in no discomfort. Thank you for your concern.”

Just what put the zig in the zigzag neck is a mystery. The giraffe (which, like most of the zoo’s other 700 residents, has never been named) appeared fine at birth at the San Diego Wild Animal Park in 1986. She was fine a year later when she arrived at the Santa Barbara Zoo.

The only clue is a freak happening in 1988. A worker saw her take a tumble--a complete somersault, actually. But even then, she showed no sign of injury. It was not until the next year that workers noticed a slight bend in her neck.

Soon, visitors were constantly asking what was wrong. Was it a broken neck? Was she in pain? Did she need a chiropractor?

“It happened slowly, over a long period of time,” said Julia Parker, the zoo’s supervisor of animal care. “Her appetite has never been in question. She’s always eaten well.”

Meanwhile, zoo veterinarians scoured giraffe houses across the country for similar cases. They found nothing until Overskei dug up a 1902 publication of the Zoological Society of London.

The journal reported on an autopsy of a giraffe with a crooked neck that showed bones on one side of its neck had grown normally, while those on the other side had stopped growing. The result: excessive spinal pressure and a cockeyed neck.

That is only one possible explanation for the Santa Barbara case, Overskei said. The curve could also be caused by a tumor, a misalignment of the vertebrae or a muscle spasm.

Giraffes usually live to be about 15, and Overskei does not believe that the animal is in imminent danger. “If it was life-threatening it would already have resulted in death,” he said.

Although the bend is growing more pronounced, the giraffe does not seem bothered. She gave birth to a calf in 1991. It died of pneumonia, but its neck was straight.

She gets along fine with the three other giraffes that occupy the one-acre enclosure overlooking the ocean. There, storks, cranes and hornbills--all natives of the Ugandan wilds where the rare Baringo giraffes originate--skitter around a pond.

Nonetheless, Overskei is eager to X-ray and biopsy the giant neck kink. That promises to be a difficult operation because giraffes cannot lie down--it’s too hard for them to get back up.

Instead, the zoo will construct a padded chute to confine the animal in a standing position for the procedures, and the giraffe will be tranquilized beforehand. However, it could take four months of tedious training in the chute before the animal is comfortable enough with it to undergo the examinations.

“We’re not going to do anything to jeopardize her health,” Overskei said.

Earlier, when the deformity appeared, officials considered moving her from public view to a facility where she could breed and live out the rest of her life with more privacy, Hollenbeck said.

But that idea was dropped as zoo personnel began to realize that the giraffe’s presence might be an unstated lesson about disabilities for the public, especially children.

“Here’s a giraffe that functions like every other giraffe,” Hollenbeck said. “It’s really no different. It’s healthy.”