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Giraffe heads on trek across the Nullabor Plain

In a scene straight out of the children’s movie Madagascar, Asali the giraffe has started a trek across the Nullarbor Plain from Perth Zoo.

The eight-year-old female is heading off on the 2200km trip to join a female herd at an open range zoo in South Australia.

Perth Zoo said the transfers were important to maintain genetic diversity within the regional population of giraffes.

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To prepare Asali for the move, zoo keepers have been training her for the past six months to walk in and out of her transport crate so she would feel comfortable in her travelling box.

Asali was born at Monarto Zoo, where she is headed back to, and she will be replaced by another female within 12 months in Perth Zoo to keep up the breeding program.

So far the zoo has successfully bred 12 giraffes, and currently has one male and three female giraffes, including Asali.

Giraffe numbers in the wild have declined by 40 per cent in the past decade.

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