Wildlife

Palm Beach County is rich in diversity and treasures so precious that their mere existence is the story of legends. It is here that the Gulf Stream kisses our shores, carrying with it an array of animals from massive whales to tiny coral larvae while providing an astounding diversity of life and healthy marine habitats.

On land, we boast of the largest remaining subtropical wilderness in the United States: the Everglades. Home to a huge diversity of species, the Everglades are critical for wild things and humans alike. The Everglades truly need to remain forever as a giant glade.

“ Wildlife and wild places need our help now, as more than one million plant and animal species are at risk of disappearing on our watch. We all can play a role in reversing this trend.”

Michele Kessler Chairman, Board of Directors

We are living between these superlatives of nature: ours to protect and ours to be inspired by. The Zoo’s local conservation work (including Florida panther, swallow-tailed kite and coral initiatives) is of the utmost importance in yielding meaningful benefits for wild Florida. In seeing our local progress, we are heeding the call of other species needing immediate help.

Whether close to home or halfway around the globe, we must follow our mission and work diligently to save wildlife in wild places.

There is one particular species that recently caught our attention. At 18 feet tall, weighing in at more than one-and-a-half tons, and adorned with dramatic brown and white patterns, giraffes in the wild are “winking out” of existence without anyone paying attention.

It is now clear that many populations of giraffes have been in a sharp decline without most of the world noticing. Scientists are calling it a “silent extinction.” Although giraffe populations in Association of Zoos and Aquariums ® (AZA) zoos are growing, giraffes in the wild are in danger of disappearing altogether.